Heir to the Flame
by Terra Alchemist
Summary: Roy and Riza discover that they have a bigger problem than getting to the top of the military, Riza is pregnant and the higherups are taking an unhealthy interest in the unborn son of the Flame Alchemist. Definitely RoyXRiza, R&R!
1. Positive

**HEIR TO THE FLAME**

**CHAPTER 1: POSITIVE**

Riza looked from one end of the room to the other, her eyes trailing across the carpeted floor, the cloth sofa, and the heavy wood desk near the back wall. Behind that desk was a leather chair, turned away from the table to face the green curtained window which revealed a gray and overcast day; a sure to be rainy one, the kind that Mustang despised, behind it. She scanned the desk, and noticed with mild detachment that none of the papers were even close to finished. She didn't reach for her gun because her superior had neglected his paperwork again, oh no. She had something much more important in mind.

Roy Mustang had fallen asleep in his chair yet again, after spending another sleepless night at home lying on his back and staring at the ceiling as it flaked, vaguely thinking that he should fix it the next day before it fell on him. Yes, he had fallen asleep, again, for the sixtieth day in a row.

And the First Lieutenant had said nothing of it.

She had been feeling tired herself, drained and nauseated, snappish and irritable. Her exhaustion was different from his however, hers was not something that could be cured by a good day's sleep at work. She had a headache, and she felt like crying, and she clenched the thing in her hand tighter, her fingernails digging into her palm. She sniffed loudly and Mustang stirred, opening a bleary slanted eye and gazed at her worriedly, asking-without saying a word- what was wrong.

She crossed the distance between them slowly, dragging her feet, a sense of impending doom clouding her tired and anxious mind. Mustang wondered what on earth could have upset her so in the lavatories; nothing had ever incited such a tearful emotion from her. She put her hands on his desk and he swung around quickly in his chair, standing up and circling around the desk to hold her shoulders.

"What's wrong?" he asked, every note one of question and worry. She handed him the object in her hand and sank onto the sofa, crying. He stared at it for a few seconds, his expression unfathomable, too jumbled up for words, then a look of confusion crossed his face, and she cried harder. He ran his hand through his dark hair, thinking... thinking...

He went over to the sofa and kneeled down in front of her. "Let me see." She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and stared at him, confused. He smiled at her and she sniffed again, somehow taking strength in that smile. Her hands strayed to her stomach, then clenched, suddenly afraid. He put his hand on hers, squeezing it gently. "It's okay, it's alright, don't worry." She opened her mouth as if to say something, and he watched her intently, but she closed it again. She pulled her uniform up over her stomach and he examined her carefully, then a smug and proud expression of approval sneaked across his face, his eyes lit up happily and he got up, pecked her cheek, and trotted happily over to his desk to start his paperwork.

"Two months?" he asked, and she replied that it was. He stood up again and told her to lie down on the sofa and not to move too much. He walked out of his office and made a beeline to the mess hall, and waved to a wary looking Edward Elric who was passing through the area with Alphonse.

"Hello Colonel!" Alphonse said brightly. Ed hissed at him and threw a hateful glance at Roy, but he trotted happily past them as well, telling them to 'keep Hawkeye company in his office' until he returned, which would only be a few minutes. Ed grumbled something incomprehensible which Roy ignored and continued his search for passably decent food, examining various types of mush and mess before moodily settling for something that resembled chicken and tasted fine to him, a salad, the odd assortment of fruits, cheese, milk, water, and a bowl of soup. Jean Havoc stared at him incredulously and asked him if he was serious about eating all that, and that it was probably a huge waste of his salary. He replied that he knew someone who would, and wheeled the cart back down to his office.

Ed and Al stared at the cart full of food, mouth hanging open, and Al coming as close as he possibly could to bugging out. Roy ignored them for a moment and located his office closet, rummaging around inside of it and tossing out the occasional Jean Havoc cigarette pack, and Armstrong's ripped uniforms; everyone seemed to like mucking up his closet. He found what he was looking for, shot a venomous look at Ed just for the satisfaction of seeing him quail for an instant before becoming angry, put a pillow under Riza's head and two layers of blankets over her. Satisfied that he had made her as comfortable as possible, he adressed the problem at hand: the Fullmetal Pipsqueak.

"Any luck on the Philosopher's Stone?" Ed shook his head no, that they had not, and that they were onto another lead. Roy let him blabber on, but kept eye contact without actually paying attention. His mind was doing flips and cartwheels, and a goofily happy expression slithered onto his countenance. Ed gave him a strange look and Riza groaned, curling up into a ball on the sofa. He quickly wiped the expression off of his face and replaced it with his usual smirky smug look that infuriated Fullmetal and made him leave sooner than a normal expression would. Ed glanced over to Riza.

"What's wrong with her?" he asked, and Al fluttered over the First Lietenant anxiously. Roy gave him a dismissive glance and said, "Maternity issues, leave her alone." Ed's jaw dropped and he and Al obediantly left the room, gossiping. Roy sighed and ran his hand through his hair again, then kneeled down next to her. "Anything you want?"

She turned her head to look at him out of the corner of her eye, then slumped under the covers again. "Do your paperwork, Roy. We'll need the money now." Roy cocked his head, then obligingly sat down at his desk to resume signing and filling out mounds of tree slices. His pen quivered over a paper, somewhat unhappily. "Do you want to keep it?" he asked, pen still poised above the paper.

"Do you want it?" she asked. He thought a moment, and replied that he did. She then answered that if he wanted it, she wanted it too, and curled around her stomach again. He scribbled his signature on the papers and started thinking to himself. What would he name it? Would it be a boy or a girl? And how would they hide the fact that he was the father? He sighed heavily, only now thinking of the perfect mess he had gotten them both into. They wouldn't even be able to hide the fact that Riza was pregnant after a few more months... he looked at her, sleeping peacefully, and decided not to bother her with his questions on their predicament. He glanced out the window again, and discovered that it was not raining, as it usually did when there were bad times abound in Roy's life. Maybe this would turn out alright after all.


	2. Higher Ups

**Heir to the Flame**

**Chapter 2: Higher ups**

Roy got up from his chair yet again after slumping into it once already after a meeting with Brigadier General Haruko from Central. Riza, now two and a half months down the road stumbled into the office awkwardly, still not used to her swelling middle. He caught her quickly as she stumbled again and let her rest in his chair. "Two and a half months and it's already that big? It'sa big kid," he said proudly, scribbling signatures over a few more papers. Riza did not laugh, but fiddled with the buttons of her uniform over her stomach; a gesture, Roy now recognized, as one of anxiety. "What's bothering you now?" he asked, flicking some more of the sheets into the 'finished' tray. She stayed silent for a moment, then took a deep shuddering breath.

"He tried to flirt with me," she seethed, jaw clenched angrily. Roy's mouth twitched quickly downwards and tightened his hold on the pen, then released it before he snapped it in two. "Flirting... eh?" he said slowly, almost mechanically. "You're talking about Haruko, aren't you?" She nodded.

"Damn... what did he say? I mean, did he say anything else?"

"He saw my stomach, my baby... and he grinned at me and tried to touch me, and he said he was going to pull me out of your jurisdiction and into his... can he do that?" she whispered. Roy stiffened, enraged, and snapped his fingers without warning, causing his desk lamp to explode into tiny pieces. "He... He can do that..." he murmured. "He has every bit of power to do it. If it was my word against his, a Colonel versus a Brigadier General's, I would lose, no matter how celebrated I am as a _war hero_," he spat.

"But I don't want to go..."

"It would make no difference; he would make an excuse, a hundred different excuses on why you have to be in Central with him, and not at East with me!" he had almost lost all hope; how could he win with all the military's strongest against him?

He put his face down on the desk and groaned softly. "Damn that Haruko... damn him... It'll be just like last time..." She hugged him from behind and giggled softly as her stomach kept her from putting her arms all the way around him. "What do you mean 'last time'?"

"I... by law, I'm illegitimate. But that's only in the records because my parents... fraternized. They could never figure out who my mother was, they just knew my father. But I think they suspected... and she..." he stared at the floor, a dull look in his eyes.

"They seperated my parents when I was six, I never saw my mother after that. My father couldn't even say good-bye, because it would incriminate them both and then I'd be... taken away as well. But they don't just 'take away' kids born from fraternizing, no... they... they kill them. They say they're sending them away to orphanages or foster homes, but they kill them!"

Riza's eyes widened and she suddenly felt very faint, her legs wobbled underneath her, unwilling to support her body for much longer. "H-how do you-?"

"How do I know?" he asked. "I know because... Jean... he had an older brother, fraternized, and I knew him; Maes and I used to play with them all the time when we were kids. They had two different mothers. Tomas, the older brother, his mother was in the military as well... and... one day, they just took him away. I know because..." he put his face in his hands. "My father was stationed in 'Relocation of Fraternized Children'. They shoot them the minute they come in; I know he wasn't lying because I saw it myself!"

He remembered clearly, that horrible day his father had taken him to work. He had given specific instructions not to leave the office, a haunted expression in his eyes. Roy, being only seven at the time, was instantly curious and decided to investigate. He had followed his father at a distance down to a basement, dark and dank, overflowing with mold and an overpowering metallic smell that made him feel like throwing up. He hid while his father yelled at another officer, a higher rank, to transfer him out of this God-Forsaken department, to which the man sneered; it was Basque Gran. "Afraid for your little Fraternized brat, Mustang? The truth hurts, doesn't it? It'll only be a matter of time, the day we find the mother, he'll be stationed down here and it'll be you who blows his little head off." His father restrained himself with difficulty and stalked away, leaning against a wall for support once he was out of Gran's vision, tears of hopeless frustration sliding down his face. Then Roy found the window.

It was looking into a room even more disgusting and mortifying than the last, and inside standing against the wall quietly, was Tomas Havoc, his arms bound behind him and blindfolded, a set expression of defiance on his face though his little body trembled terribly. "Tomas!" he called, and the boy turned his head to the sound, mouth opening to answer. His father gasped and hurtled towards him, pinpointing thesound and grabbing him around the shoulders as the firing squad opened fire and Tomas was thrown backwards into the wall, where he slid down in a bloody heap, unmoving. Roy stared in shock, his hands grasping at his father's uniform. His father cried and shook him angrily. "Why Roy? Why did you come downhere? I-I... you shouldn't have seen this, Roy!" His father held him close andRoy buried his face into his neck, tears leakingout of his eyes. "Why did they do that to Tomas?"

"Why? Because he's like you, Roy, and I swear I'll neverthis... I'll not stand by and let this happen to you!" Roy sobbed into his father's shoulder and he rubbed his back and picked himup. "I promise, I swear, I'll protect you from this, I will!"

When he went back home, he smiled at Jean and said, "He got a nice family, Jean."

But he always remembered the truth.

"Oh my God..." Riza sank down onto the floor and held her stomach, feeling the urge to vomit welling up in her throat. Roy looked at her from his position on the desk and sighed. "I... don't knowif they still do that or not, and I hope to God they don't."

"Did you ever... did you ever tell Havoc?"

"I did. It's why he's in the military now, to get revenge for Tomas," he smiled. "It's why he's backing me now, pushing me to become Fuhrer, because I'm the only one who will change things. But now... now I have to keep my baby a secret, for all our sakes." He stroked Riza's hair and pulled her up from the floor. "Do you want to go home? It's been... It's been a rough day, for the both of us," he murmured, and he realized that there was nothing closer to the truth.

"Let's... I want to go home," she whispered, strained.


	3. Home and Safety

**Heir to the Flame**

**Chapter 3: Home and Safety**

Roy was lying on his back in his bed, Riza sleeping peacefully on his chest snuggled up against him. He sorely wished he could fall asleep as fast as she could, but could only stare once more at the ceiling of his bedroom and stroke Riza's hair as she slept, taking comfort in this one familiar gesture. His eyes sweeped around the room once, taking in the over-large dresser that held nothing but some hastily ironed work shirts, an extra uniform, and some old shirts he wore at home; he didn't have any idea how long it had been since he had actually gone shopping for clothes, the ones that he had recently acquired were there only because Riza had insisted he get more things to wear.

A bathroom, nothing unusual about it except for a tub that he had rarely used before Riza had started coming home with him some fourteen odd months before. A closet that served no purpose because of the over-large dresser; he had turned it into a little pet room for Black Hayate where the little dog was no doubt snuggled up between pillows and chew toys somewhere inside of it. There were more rooms in the house, many more, more than a bachelor could fill by himself without junking it up with useless items that served no other purpose but to fill up space. He had been no such bachelor, he had always been a bit peevish about junk and threw away anything that he did not regard a neccessity. This went out the window, of course, the day he found out he was a father.

There were now at least two rooms that were filled with toys and he had to admit that he may have been a little overexcited when he had left work that day. Riza didn't know about them of course, because there were simply too many rooms in his so-called house to check every one. She was constantly finding new rooms every day and quickly became exasperated when she left something in one room, left one to find it, and ended up in another completely different room.

He had left the house the year of histenth birthday, bitter and loathing of the old family home, only to return to it somefifteen or so years later and had been living in it ever since. He found it was much too hard to seperate himself from the home that he had been born and brought up in, but found it equally hard to grasp that at leastone hundredgenerations of his family had thought the exact same thing. All in all, it was a pretty damn old mansion.

To lessen the commotion he got over it, he lived in an apartment closer to East HQ much of the time, but returned to the old mansion like a turtle returns to the beach of its birth. He supposed it meant too much to him, and that the fact that he had grown up here was not easy to let go. But now...

Now it was truly home, for the first time. He wouldn't be alone, walking the corridors or up and down the stairs listlessly and in a daze waiting to do something, or better yet, waiting for Maes to call him and give a suggestion as to what to do. Usually, it was get drunk on Saturday nights, a particular favorite.

Now he would be busy, a wife -sort of- and a new baby to take care of. He finally understood why Maes had gone insane the day he found out he was a father; in fact...

He eased Riza off of his chest and rubbed her belly gently. Why shouldn't he call Maes right now? What a great idea, he was glad he thought of it! He reached for the phone at his bedside then thought better of it, swung his legs over the side of the bed and trooped off to another phone in another room. He didn't particularly feel like bothering Riza, she had more things to worry about already, like her pregnancy. He picked it up, dialed Maes's number, and waited for his friend to pick up.

A groan on the other end. "Dammit, do you have any idea what time it is? It's you, isn't it Roy? You're the only one who calls so late at night!"

"Listen Maes, I have a problem..."

"Eh? That's funny. With all the girls you go around with I'd never figure you have a problem with your-"

"Not that kind of problem, idiot! Listen to me! I... how should I say this..."

"C'mon, if you really have a problem, why so shy? You've told me everything since we were kids, so spill."

"Riza... I got Riza pregnant."

Silence.

"Riza? Hawkeye Riza? Are we thinking about the same Riza here?"

"Yes, Maes."

"How the hell did you do it? She must've had a gun at your head the whole time you were-"

"Alright alright, Maes! But she _is _pregnant."

"I never would have guessed."

"Eh?"

"You've got every woman in East and Central throwing themselves at your feet and you go and get _Riza Hawkeye _pregnant!"

"I thought you'd be happy for me Maes!"

"Oh don't get me wrong, I am! Unless you forced her..."

"I'm not a rapist!"

"Okay okay, now that that's out of the way..." Maes cleared his throat.

"What do I do, Maes?"

"Well, now that you're a father... it's yours, right?"

"Maes!" Roy growled warningly into the phone.

"Just make her as comfortable as possible and don't do even one thing that might piss her off, or you'll regret it. Doubly so since it's Riza."

"...I gotcha Maes."

"Good! Now if you're lucky, while she's pregnant she'll be extra lovin' with you..."

"Oh God Maes... I don't want to talk about this..."

"Suit yourself. Hey Roy..."

"Yeah?"

"The higher ups don't suspect anything?"

"I'm not sure... the way we go at each other, I don't think they'll jump to that conclusion too quickly..."

"Can't be too careful, it's easy to over-dote on her while she's pregnant you know, especially when she's getting over stressed at work."

"Okay, I got it."

"Don't ignore her though, or she'll get upset, so give her a lot of attention once you're home. Is she there with you?"

"In another room, I thought I ought to let her sleep some more. I... told her about Tomas."

"You did... Great way to get her upset Roy, way to go. Why don't you tell her about your old man while your at it, eh?"

Roy was silent and stared at the wall vaguely.

"I'm sorry Roy... I didn't think."

"It's... it's alright, Maes. I figure everyone knows about him, just not everything."

"Listen, about the higher ups... you should try to stick around Riza as much as you can, Roy."

"But you just said not to draw attention to us!"

"Yes but... if they already know... some of the superiors might try to bump her off... they don't want another Mustang around to keep them on the run for their ranks. They'll view your child as a threat."

"I never... thought about it that way."

"They've already seen what you can do, Roy, it would be a stupid mistake to think that they would just let this fraternization breach slide. They don't want any more Flame Alchemists to contend with, and the military knows that everyone out of the Mustang family was a Flame Alchemist in the military at one point or another. Be careful."

"Thanks Maes, I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Yep, I'll be dropping down by East tomorrow. I wanna see Riza with my own eyes anyway!"

"Alright Maes, till tomorrow then." He put down the phone with a click and turned, startled to see Riza leaning heavily in the doorway.

"Are you okay, Riza?" he asked. She nodded and held out her arms, and he walked to her willingly enveloping her in his arms. "I was talking to Maes over the phone, about us." She nodded and buried her face into his bare chest, breathing softly and steadily. He rested his chin on the top of her head and breathed deeply; she smelled of gunpowder and roses... gunpowder and roses... She looked up at him and smiled, rubbing her cheek against his short stubble and savoring the adverse feeling. He touched her stomach gently and his eyebrows rose, discovering that it had gotten a little bigger in half a month. He kissed her on the lips and led her back to the bedroom, laying her down on the bed and covering her in the warm blankets. He sat down next to her at the edge of the bed and rubbed her stomach, and she closed her eyes, enjoying the attention she was receiving. He was secretly savoring the moment as well, knowing full well that there was no telling how many they would have left.

"Riza... what do you think the baby will be?" She opened her amber eyes slowly. "I want a little boy... A little boy who looks just like his daddy..." he laughed softly and pushed some stray hair out of her face, and planted a kiss on her lips. "Well I wanted a girl, who looks like you! We'll see when it's born..."

She nodded and let him continue to probe and press her stomach gently, and looked up into his face. He didn't know she was looking at him, he was too absorbed with her stomach. She wondered if he'd be a good father, then reprimanded herself. She should have thought of that before she got pregnant, not now. "Roy..."

"Hm?"

"How will we hide this from... from Havoc and the others?"

"We won't have to."

"We won't?"

"No... they'll understand, they won't rat us out."

"Have you thought of anything... for Haruko?"

"No, I haven't." He moved closer to her and put his arms around her shoulders and he nuzzled her face. "I can't think of anything... but if he does take you to Central... stick with Maes, Maes and Armstrong, okay? They'll take care of you as best they can." Her hand tightened its hold on his bare shoulder and he held her wrist. "You stick with them, and keep safe, and I'll try to get transferred to Central as soon as possible, even if it means demoting in rank, I'll do it."

"But Roy... you can't demote!"

"I can and I will if that's what it takes," he said stubbornly. "I don't want them to hurt you, or the baby."

"You stay with Maes in Central City, and I'll have the excuse to come down there every weekend to visit, everyone knows I do that every weekend, so it won't be suspicious. Call me from there as well."

"But we don't know if he will even force me to go..."

"The way he's manuevering, I'd say he's going to do it, and soon... don't let him take advantage of you, okay?" he held her chin in his hand and looked into her eyes for a long while. "Okay," she whispered. "If he does anything to you, you call me, okay?"

"Yes, I will."

"I'll be there so fast they won't know it was the Flame Alchemist who hit em'."

* * *

Wowee, 19 reviews for 2 chapters? Thanks a lot guys, I hope you'll be constant reviewers in the future! Thank you, Unexpectation for the compliment to my writing, I didn't know I had such a fan! Makes me wanna cry T.T 

Anyways! I'm glad this fic is doing so well in its second chapter, and I must have been having a fit of morbidness when the scene for Tomas came to mind, but this will get a bit deeper! Yay!

As to whether the child will actually be born in the story... I'd say maybe, depends on what the reviewers want! So next time you review, put in a word and I'll see what the old brain can think up! - T A


	4. Fearing Tomorrow

**Heir to the Flame**

**Chapter 4: Fearing Tomorrow**

"Riza..." Roy shook Riza's shoulder gently and whispered in her ear to get up. She moaned and turned over, careful to remember not to roll on her stomach. His mouth twitched into a smile and he stroked her hair for a minute before getting out of bed at last, throwing off the covers and heading for the bathroom. He looked at the alarm clock and frowned. "It's already ten o' clock, Riza. Both of us are really late." He heard her squeak from the bedroom and jump up in a flurry of sheets and race to another bathroom.

Roy was taking his time to eat breakfast, which consisted of a piece of toast since he had forgotten to go to the store for groceries the day before. Riza wolfed down her slice of toast, petted Black Hayate, left him a bowl of food and water, and bolted out of the door with the car keys. She did a double-take and went back to the doorway. "Aren't you coming?" she asked the unmoving Roy who was still scanning the newspaper with ferocious interest. "You take the car, I'll walk. It'll be less conspicuous that way," he said shooing her out of the door. She gave him a quick kiss and got into the car, started it up, and drove away.

He stood in the doorway for a little while, watching as the car receded into the distance, then retreated back inside. He picked up the phone, thought about dialing Maes' number, remembered that he wouldn't be there anyway, and put the phone back down. He picked the newspaper back up instead and scanned the headline, a cynical smirk on his face.

" 'Festival in honor of The General Who Ordered His Own Death By Firing Squad.' Hmph. What do they know?" he threw the paper onto the floor and Black Hayate obediantly picked it up and deposited it into the trash can. He squatted down and petted the little dog between his ears, and Black Hayate barked and yipped happily, tongue lolling in happiness.

"Doesn't take much to please you, huh Hayate?" Black Hayate yipped happily and nipped at his tail. Roy straightened and took the paper out of the trash bin and unfurled it, tucked it under his arm, and trooped up the stairs. His hand paused on the rail that lead from the fourth floor to the fifth, he hesitated, then took his hand off the rail and warily approached one of the rooms. He touched the doorknob slowly and recoiled as if it had shocked him, then twisted it slowly.

Sometimes when he forgot himself he thought that his father would still be sitting on the edge of the bed, feet propped uncerimoniously on his desk, reading a book or looking through family photos. He remembered that when he was a little boy, he used to love having his father read books to him with his mother cuddled against him to explain long words to him or tell him to be quiet when he was fidgety. He remembered her face as well, as if she had been there all his life, all along, instead of taken away from him at the young age of ten. Her hair was long and brown, shiny, healthy and strong, so shiny that he had become infatuated with it and liked nothing better than to pull and tug at it when she was sitting down. Her face was smooth and soft, the only sharp feature of her face being her eyes, small and green, slanted like his own. Her mouth was always in a half-smile, a half-smile that burst into a full one when she was inside the house, where she was safe.She had been a little on the petite side, small boned and slender, quiet but deadly.

His father was the complete opposite. Tall, broad-shouldered, proud and strong, he had long locks of jet black hair that hung over his face, but large dark eyes that seemed like deep wells of ink and a grin that could light up a room, a smirk that quickly iced it over again.His face was the same as Roy's, more a flattish oval in shape but with a more prominant nose and larger eyes than his only son, but there was always the demeanor, the pride and grace that seemed almost hereditary in the Mustang family, the line of the Flame. He had always been straightforward, protective, but a loving father.

Every first born Mustang son became a State Alchemist in the military under the name of the Flame Alchemist; to the military they were an asset that was to be coveted and rightly so. The Flame Alchemists were the most destructive alchemists in the military, not only because of their power over a mighty element, but also because of their calm collected manner that won over superiors without actually having to lick their shoes and grovel for them. In the old days of the military, that had been the most desirable trait of any soldier and Mustangs in the military usually were in high ranks and close to higher ups, respected and well-known for being loyal to a fault.

But things had changed, and his father's death had blared that turning point more than anything else ever had; the loss of General Leroy Mustang was mourned throughout Amestris and an entire week was set aside by the people to pay their respects; his death was mourned even more than the death of the former Fuhrer, and in this cloud of confusion and crying, King Bradley had somehow been elected Fuhrer.

He sat on the edge of the bed. How ironic, that twenty years later he was sitting in the exact same place his father had, mulling over the exact same question: how could he protect his family?

He checked the clock and saw that it was eleven, and thought that he had best get a move on. He opened the door, locked it, and walked out.

At work he ignored the secretary who asked where he had been and went straight to the office, even bypassing Jean's probing questions. He paused to listen to Fuery comment to Falman that the First Lieutenant was acting strangely, and asked Falman if she was pregnant. Roy's mouth twitched irritably. Was there nothing else in the office to talk about? He opened his office door and stood there, startled, then locked the door quietly behind him. He walked softly over to the couch and cradled Riza's head in his arms. "Riza, Riza wake up... It's Roy, I'm here now..." She whimpered softly in her sleep and opened her eyes after a few minutes. "You came..."

He nodded. "I did. I wasn't just going to leave you to struggle through... through this," he said patting her stomach.

"They're transferring me, Roy..." she was shivering and he hugged her tightly against him. "You remembered what I said? Stay with Maes, you'll be alright." She nodded and kissed him passionately, and he returned it with equal ferocity until there was a loud knock on the door. She pulled away hesitantly, tears in her eyes, and he ran his fingers down her cheek tenderly. "It's okay, everything will be okay, I promise."

He crossed to the door and flung it open to reveal a grinning Maes Hughes, and he sighed, relieved. "Maes... it's you." Hughes threw a glance over his shoulder and strode into the office. "Your darn right it's me! I've got some important cases to discuss with you!" he followed Roy in and locked the door again, then scrutinized Riza. "Have you been abusing her? She's been crying!"

Roy turned a livid shade of red. "What the hell possesses you to open your mouth and make stupid comments?" he hissed. Maes held up his hands innocently and addressed Riza. "Well how have you been feeling? Throwing up, mood swings, pain, anything?" She nodded curtly andtried to hide her belly from view, to which Maes nodded approvingly. "Already protective, she'll be a good mother. I'm more concerned with this one however..." he poked Roy in the chest and Roy frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded.

"It means that I'm wondering whether you've really decided to put all your playboy days behind you, Roy."

"Of course I have! I wouldn't have... I wouldn't have gotten Riza pregnant if I wasn't serious!"

"But you didn't know that she was pregnant until recently."

He looked away guiltily and Maes stared him down. "You have to be ready to commityourself Roy; that's your baby, and you have to take care of it. That kid didn't have the choice to be brought into the world, but you did." Roy nodded.

"Good, we have an understanding! Now I just wanted to prep you in-"

"I won't be able to do any of that Maes."

"What?"

"Riza... is being transferred to Central. To be Haruko's slave!" he burst out angrily and Maes' face darkened. "Haruko, eh? I'll keep an eye out for her, and I'll tell Armstrong to do the same, although I think he'll do it regardless of whether I tell him or not."

"You won't... you won't let anything happen to her, will you Maes?" he asked, gripping her shoulder tightly,

"No, of course not! But maybe you two should spend a night alone together, alright?"

They nodded and Maes Hughes walked out again to leave them together. She scooted over to give him room to sit and he sat, his arm twined around her neck. "Are you feeling alright?"She gave a half-hearted nod and ran her fingers gently over her stomach. "I'm worried about our baby..." He kissed her neck and put his hand over hers, trying to assuage her fears. "I am too... God, Riza, I am too. When... when are you going to leave? Next week?"

"Tomorrow morning," she whispered.


	5. Trapped on the Train

**Heir to the Flame**

**Chapter 5: Trapped on the Train**

And so the next morning, Riza had taken everything from Roy's home and left on the train to Central.

He was lying face down on the bed in a fit of emotional agony, not crying, but lying there, almost dead. The phone rang and he cursed loudly, shooting out his arm to the wooden bedside table to thrash and feel around for the phone. He finally found it and held it pretty close to his head, just not to his ear.

"What the hell do you want?"he groaned into the phone. There was a prolonged sigh from the other end.

"Roy, it's Maes."

"Yeah?"

"You feeling okay?"

"Hell no."

"Cryptic today, are we?"

"You would be too if they just suddenly carted off Gracia to another part of the country."

There was a gloomy pause on the other end. "Yeah, you're right."

Roy grunted. "See?"

"Did you see her leave, Roy?"

Roy kept silent for a bit, nodded, then remembered that Maes wouldn't see the nod anyway.

"I saw her... I wanted to say good-bye so badly right there... but Haruko... he was standing right there! God knows what he's doing to her now... if he's taking advantage of her I swear I won't sleep until he's dead and _burned!_" he howled.

"What about before she left?"

"Best night of my life Maes, best and worst."

"You're missing her already?"

"Yeah... that's why I've got my face buried in my bed, Maes."

"I was wondering why you sounded muffled."

"Well there you go."

Silence on the other end.

"Maes," Roy whispered.

"Yeah?"

"I miss my baby too."

"It's not even born yet!"

"Doesn't matter. I miss my baby."

"Any particular ideas why in that cunning little head of yours?" Maes asked in an attempt to probe Roy's feelings.

"Because it's mine, and... well... it's just _mine. _Think about it Maes... it's a life, andI fathered it, it's _mine. _It hasn't even been three months and I'm already missing it... my child... who knows what those military bastards will do with it!" he exploded from the bed.

"If they don't find out it's yours, then they won't do anything..."

"How can they not find out it's mine? Every child born to our family looks like a Mustang. If it's a boy, he's going to look just like me, Maes, there'll be no mistake."

"And if it's a girl?"

"...She might look a bit like Riza, but there will still be some traits that are clearly defined as mine."

"Your eyes, for example."

"That'll be the biggest signal."

"I always wondered how you looked _exactly _like your dad..."

"What day is it today, Maes?"

"Friday."

"I'm visiting tomorrow."

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow. I'll take care of Riza when she gets here, so don't worry."

"See you tomorrow then Maes."

The train was wobbling a bit too much for Riza's delicate condition and she got up from her compartment to find the bathroom. She wished that Roy was there so he could help her; she was feeling increasingly dizzy and sick, and could not walk as far as she usually could unaided. She thought that she could at least make it to the bathroom down the hall if she held onto the rails, so she did. She inched her way to the bathroom and pushed open the door weakly, and threw up.

After she was finished,she sank to the floor and held her stomach tightly. If she had known it would be this hard, maybe she wouldn't have gotten pregnant in the first place... No, that was a silly thing to think... Roy would have somehow begged her to get pregnant anyway, she thought to herself. She had seen the forlorn and pained look on his face, though only she knew him so well as to identify it as 'forlorn and pained'. To anyone else, it would only look like a downwards pull to his normal detached face, but it spoke worlds to her.

She staggered out of the bathroom and wobbled back to her compartment, only to be accosted by Haruko halfway.

"Leave me alone," she muttered, trying to sidestep him. He wouldn't let her however, and a casual smile played on his lips. "Getting heavy are we, Riza?" She shot a hateful look at him and finally succeeded in pushing past him. "Don't call me that," she said, reaching for the compartment door handle. He grinned and reached his hand downwards, and she yelped and bent down awkwardly to swipe a gun out of her holster and pointed it at his chest, regaining her balance a bit slowly. Even that small action of bending to grab her gun fatigued her, if only slightly, and it was worriesome. He laughed and slapped her hand away viciously, her gun clattering on the floor, and her dazed mind wondered how she had missed that movement in the first place. He slammed her against the wall and she turned her head away from his, struggling ferociously in his grasp with her wrists pinned on either side of her, and she opened her mouth and screamed.

Alex Louise Armstrong materialized from one of the compartments a split second after Haruko let her go and stepped backwards. He cast a glance at the two of them, sparkles glimmering faintly, almost angrily, then walked forward purposefully, scooped up Riza in his arms, and strode back into her apartment in what could be called pretty darn close to one fluid movement. He laid her down on the seat and she curled into a ball again, cursing Haruko and the fact that she was a woman. Armstrong shook his head slowly from side to side and sat down on the seat opposite her, hands on his knees.

"Now now, First Lieutenant, there is nothing shameful in being a woman," he said, trying to comfort her. She looked up at him with tear filled eyes. "How would you know? You're not treated like a damn sexual _toy _for that _bastard _out there!" she screamed. He patted her shoulder with a large hand and looked at her pityingly. "Indeed I would not, First Lieutenant, but take heart. There is a man still back in the East who loves you very much, and he will no doubt do everything in his power to restore himself to your side." A smile raised his moustache. "Perhaps he will even go beyond the boundaries set for him; I would not put it past him." She stared at him incredulously. "Roy...?"

He nodded. "I recieved word from Lieutenant Colonel Hughes that he has not yet raised his face from the mattress of his bed and probably intends to partially suffocate himself in it. He says that he misses you and his little one already." She smiled and did take heart in his words. "Did he say anything else?" she asked.

"No, most of their conversation was the Lieutenant Colonel trying to release the Colonel from his brief stint of hopelessness. He did, however, express his feeling of Haruko quiet animatedly. I believe he said something like, 'if he's taking advantage of her I swear I won't sleep until he's dead and _burned!' "_

Riza's smile widened and her eyes became heavy. She closed them slowly, peacefully. There was a knock on the door and Haruko stepped in. "You're dismissed, Major Armstrong. I have business to discuss with the First Lieutenant." Armstrong hesitated, then saluted slowly and plodded out of the room regretfully: he could not refuse a direct order from the Brigadier General. Riza's eyes widened in horror, and she was afraid of falling asleep in the same room as that dreadful man.

Roy picked up Black Hayate from the floor and petted him distractedly, eyeing the map one more time for directions to Maes' house before tossing them in the passenger seat of the car. One more time, just to be safe; he knew that in his present state of mind, it would become easy to be distracted. He wanted to leave a day earlier, he couldn't help but harbor the thought that something would miraculously pop up that would cost him another hard day in the office and one more day _away _from Riza.

He got into the car and started it up, hoping that it wasn't so dusty from unuse that it refused to run for the drive to Maes' house. He breathed a silent thank you as it started smoothly and sped out the driveway and onto the road. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel, his eyes narrowed and his face definitely haggard. He hoped he wouldn't wreck on the way.

Riza lashed out at Haruko as he bore down on her, frightened and angry. "You stay away from me!" she growled, holding a vicious looking knife between them. He stopped short and laughed at her again, causing her hair to stand on end. Tears filled her eyes; there was no hope of getting away from him unscathed. She felt frustrated and alone. Why did he want with a pregnant woman anyway? And where was Roy? Tears coursed down her face. She wanted Roy now, here where he could protect her. She had never before realized how much she had needed him, not just how much he had needed her. She wanted the father of her baby there beside her to torch the life out of this thing that was stalking her and causing her undue grief.

But Roy wasn't there, only Haruko.

* * *

Due to my limited schedule during a schoolweek, I tend to update very slowly, but I do pick up on weekends. I've decided to have the baby born within the story, so there's another thing for all my loyal reviewers to wait for! Now don't hate me for this chapter; even I don't like the situation I've put Riza in, but to make the story more suspenseful and interesting, moments like these have to happen. -T A 


	6. My Dark Secrets

**Heir to the Flame**

**Chapter 6: My Dark Secrets**

The second she entered the Hughes household she was crying, locked up in her room and crying her eyes out, curled up under the sheets of her bed and letting her tears stain her pillow. Gracia and Maes had tried all they could to talk to her, to comfort her, or just find out what was wrong, but she refused their attention, refused to even look at them when they came in with food. She did not even glance at the food, just buried her face into the tear soaked pillow and moaned.

Maes finally thought it was about time to call Roy. He picked up the phone and punched in his friend's number and waited for him to pick up, but he didn't. He stared at the reciever in his hand and thought hard. He went back to Riza's room and cracked it open. "Riza... Roy's on his way, I think." A pained cry was all he got in response. He sat on a couch facing the door and Gracia sat next to him and looking at him earnestly. "What happened, Maes? Do you know?"

He shook his head slowly and put his arm around her. "I have... no idea, Gracie... I wasn't there." He was silent for a moment. "I... I can only imagine what Roy must be going through... poor guy. I hope he's alright." She pressed her face against his neck. "You really care about him, don't you?"

"Yeah... Roy and I... we go way back... we've been through a lot together. Most of it was his fault though," he chuckled. "He's a troublemaker, yeah, but he doesn't deserve what he's getting now, Gracie, he doesn't..." There was a frantic banging on the door and Maes jumped to open it. Roy barrelled in with a hello and no further ado, then asked where Riza was. "Where'sRiza?"Gracia pointed him to the room upstairs and he bolted up the steps, through the door, and into the room.

"Riza...?" he crawled onto the bed and touched her arm. She recoiled and moaned, then turned and looked into his eyes. "Riza..." she opened her mouth to speak and stopped, then reached up and kissed him fiercely and he straddled her hips, returning her passion. He stroked her face gently and lifted away from her and she sank back down onto the bed fingering his belt buckle longingly. He shook his head and stilled her hands. "Not until after the baby is born," he murmured.

"Now... why are you still cooped up in bed, pretty lady?" she was silent and her hands stilled for the first time.

"I... I don't want to talk about it..." he placed his hands on her stomach and rubbed. "Are you sure?" She nodded and he pulled her blouse over her stomach and kissed her stomach. "I think you should tell me, Riza." She looked at him fearfully and shook her head. "No, no, I shouldn't!"

"C'mon baby, how bad can it be?" She reached up and murmured softly into his ear, and he breathed in sharply, eyes narrowing to a deadly glare. "How _dare _he? He's _married with two kids _for God's sake!" She started to cry again and he held her face in his hands. "Don't you worry... don't you worry yourself at all. I'm going to take a look around Central HQ, I'll be back in a bit."

Her eyes watched him leave the room and he turned. "Don't worry, it's not your fault Riza."

He stepped into the building and walked to the secretary at the desk, giving her a winning smile and a special tilt of his narrow eyes. "Hey there... could I possibly obtain the roster of who works here?" the stuttering woman handed over the roster and he leaned his back against the counter, flipping through it. Then his hands stopped and he frowned. He looked back at her. "Could I possibly pay a visit to General Durandal?" he asked. She asked who to say was visiting. "Tell her Colonel Mustang from East City."

He almost ran headlong for the room and threw the door open, to reveal a slim long-haired woman who had just put down the phone, obviously in a state of shock. "Leroy...?" she whispered. He stood in the doorway, hands by his sides, and she stood up, her eyes widened, and she came out from behind her desk. "No... no... oh my God... Roy?"

Tears were pricking in the corner of his eyes and there was a lump lodged in his throat. "Mom... it's me, Mom, Roy." She ran to him and hugged him tightly, tears wetting the front of his uniform. "Roy... Roy... my little Roy... only..." she looked up at him. "You're not little anymore, you're tall like your father. I missed you so much!" He smiled awkwardly. "I missed you too Mom." She dusted off the front of his uniform, embarrassed. "Roy..." She frowned.

"_You look like a playboy!_"

_"MOM!" _

"What has your father done to you? I knew I shouldn't have trusted him to raise you on his own..."

"Mom!"

"Ten women a day I bet, my little boy! I never even imagined it would be this way!"

"Mom!"

"Get in trouble in the daytime, do you? Otherwise you wouldn't be waltzing around here in that uniform with time to spare! Picking up more girls?"

"MOM! I need to talk to you!" he howled, and she stopped.

"Well what is it?" she asked innocently, and Roy groaned. He slumped into a chair in front of her desk.

"I have a problem-" he started.

"I knew all those girls would get to you! And serves you right, you uncouth little-"

"Mo-o-o-o-om... please..."

"Oh fine, continue."

"It's my... uhm... 'girlfriend'... she's not really my girlfriend, I mean, I want to get married but..."

"She's a tramp?"

"Mom! Pleeeease, stop! She's not a tramp, she's not a prostitute, she's a very respectable woman, okay? And she's beautiful..." a misty eyed look overtook his face, then he shook it away. "But we can't get married... because she's in the military, like you and Dad were, and I was wondering if you had any... ad... vice..." A dark look had crossed her face. "The best I could give you is to seperate and never see each other again, or you'll end up like your father and I."

"I can't do that, Mom. I can't just abandon her like that."

She laughed softly, tears forming in her eyes. "What?" he asked.

"I-It's nothing... it's just... your father said the exact same thing to me..." She looked up. "If you can't do it, then you're probably doing very well concealing yourself anyway."

"She's pregnant, Mom."

"Grandchildren already..." she mused. "What's the problem?"

"Haruko... is getting to close for my comfort. I don't like it... he's already tried to... to sleep with her once!"

"Ah. So that was what that nasty gash was..."

"You're a General, Mom, you can... you can keep him from touching Riza, can't you?" he asked eagerly.

"Perhaps... but I can't... ensure that nothing will happen. I can try with all my power if it makes you feel any better though. What's her name?"

"Riza Hawkeye... First Lieutenant."

"Is she loyal?"

"Yes."

"Quiet."

"Only if you don't get her angry."

"Flighty?"

"No."

"Strong sense of duty?"

"God yes; she's demonstrated that enough with her gun pressed against my head... I'm a slacker," he admitted to her incredulous look.

"I'd put a gun against your head too, Roy. I think we'll get along fine, now straighten your collar." Instead of waiting for him to do it she straightened it for him and ran her hand through his hair. "You need to comb your hair too... and how's your father?" he was quiet.

"Dad's dead... He's been dead for fifteen years, Mom." She stopped fiddling with his collar and stared. "What?"

"He... he died... he put himself to death."

"H-how?"

"Gran somehow got enough evidence to put me to death for being fraternized... and Dad... he... he said...

"He said, to take his life instead, and let me go... that it was his choice for me to be born and not mine... and he said that he promised, that he swore..."

_" I promised, I swore, that I would protect you from this, Roy. Even if it costs me my life. It wasn't his choice to be born, Gran, it was mine! I know you hate me, so take me instead and leave Roy alone,then we'll be even."_

_"Mustang! What the hell are you doing?" Maes' father, Brigadier General Hughes. _

_"It's better this way, Hughes... take care of my son, won't you?" he stepped in front of the firing squad and the men hesitated. "General Mustang... we can't..." _

_General Mustang took off his gloves and stared at them for a minute, then tossed them to Roy. "There, you've got nothing holding you back now. You're the next Flame Alchemist, Son. Use that power wisely." He grinned. "I love you, Son. Next time you see your mother, tell her I love her too. Tell her I'm sorry." _

_"Dad! Wait! There has to be another way, there has to be!" Roy screamed. General Mustang looked at the men. _

_"Ready your arms!" he ordered. They hesitated and he repeated his order._

_"Ready your arms!" Guns cocked._

_"Aim!" They trained on him and he chuckled drily. "I'm sorry, Roy. This is the only way."_

_"FIRE!" Shots rang out in East City's courtyard and Roy fell on all fours, Maes dropped down next to him to see if he was alright. "Roy?" Roy held his face in his hands and sobbed. "Is he gone, Maes... Is it over?" Maes looked over Roy's shoulder. "Yeah... it's over buddy... he... he's gone."_

"He said that he loved you. He said he was sorry."

"I see... it sounds just like him, to, to, go out with a bang. What a man... what a man," she sobbed. Her shoulders heaved and she reached out to her desk for support, and slowly regained her composure. "I always thought... that one day he'd come back to me... but it turns out I didn't even know he was dead... God, Leroy!" She hid her face in her hands and Roy looked away uncomfortably.

"Why didn't you come to me then?" she asked.

"I didn't know where you were. I was little then, I didn't know what to do. I just lived alone in the mansion, I lived alone in there for all these years until now. That's why I need this favor Mom! I... I don't want to be alone again!" She hugged him tightly and nodded. "I understand... I'll do everything I can Roy..." He got up and stood at the door, hand on the knob. "Roy."

He turned and looked into her eyes. "I love you, Roy. You come visit me after the baby's born, okay?"

He smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I promise, Mom."

* * *

Yah! 52 reviews already? And it's only chapter 5! Even Halfmetal Alchemist didn't get this kind of popularity! One more odd thing; Never a Mother to Me has somehow just boosted it's popularity from two to six reviews overnight, sheesh. I must be getting popular. Unfortunately, the new chapter of Halfmetal Alchemist has not gotten a review yet, waah... and I need to put in one or two more chapters for The Only One for Him to finish it. 

I have too much unfinished business to take care of, and then there's the problem of creating the much clamored for -cough-sequel to Halfmetal Alchemist. And there's also this to put up another chapter for, and another story under construction in my documents page. Did I mention I have homework? A biology and english project, a spanish project, and another paper to write for english! Grrr... T.T

-T A -one interesting little tidbit that I just now noticed. The initials of my pen name are the initials of my first and last name.Super weird-


	7. Something's Wrong with Our Baby

**Heir to the Flame**

**Chapter 7: Something's Wrong with Our Baby**

"Are you alright, Riza?" Roy wrapped his arms around her shoulders and she sighed, fingering her stomach. "I'm afraid to go back to work, Roy..." He nodded slowly and stroked her hair. "I know... why don't you file for a maternity leave?" She shrugged uncomfortably.

"What will I do? There are six months left to go and without a paycheck... I feel guilty having Maes and Gracia support me like this, I'm just another mouth to feed..." he was quiet. "What about me? I can pay."

"What will they say when they find out that your spending money on things other than wine and flowers, hmm?" Roy reddened. "I haven't bought wine and flowers for three months anyway! Well... I bought flowers," he admitted. "But I stopped buying wine after you got pregnant, so if they don't realize something's up with me by now, then they've really got their noses in the dirt.

"I _want _to support you, Riza! I... I want to be a proper husband is all I'm saying. And a father." She smiled at him, and started to giggle. "What?" he demanded. She shook her head and kept laughing, trying to hide it by holding her hand over her mouth. "What?"

"I-It's nothing," she gasped, "It's just that... I never thought I'd hear you say the word husband!" He looked at her, bemused. "Oh, so that's how it is, eh? Well get out of work then, that's all there is to it! You're a mommy now, they can't deny that!" He said, tickling her unprotected sides. She laughed hard as his fingers pressed into her sides and fell over onto her back. Maes opened the door quickly, a worried look on his face that turned almost immediately into one of amusement. "Huh. I thought somebody was dying in here! I'll leave you two alone then," he said closing the door.

"Maes! Wait!" Maes opened the door again. "What?"Roy held up his hand. "We're coming down, hold ona sec. It takes a while to heave Riza out of bed!" He hauled her out of bed and lowered her to her feet, then sped down the stairs with Maes. She heard them whispering excitedly downstairs and a fit of chuckles made themselves heard to her ears. She padded slowly down the steps and looked around the corner cautiously before actually stepping all the way out.

"Surprise!" Roy yelled. "Roy here went a little overboard on baby shopping... so..." Maes gestured at the pile of baby items. "He's crazy I swear." Riza gaped at the pile and rummaged through it. "Ohhh... these are so cute..." she murmured, pulling out various baby clothes in shades of blue and pink. "We don't even know what the baby is yet..." She looked at Roy and giggled again. "These are cute, but I think you'll like the one I got better." She went to her suitcase and pulled out a package, handing it to Roy. He looked at her quizzically and tore open the package, gasped, and held up the clothes.

"Niiiiiice... 'Fear the Flame'!" They were one black and one white pair of baby clothes witha large flame stitched in the middle with the bold fire red words 'FEAR THE FLAME' above it. He grinned. "I love it! Where'd you get it?"

"I made them," she said simply. "I didn't know you could do that! That's awesome!" She brushed some dust off his shirt and handed him another larger package. "It's getting cold outside, so I made you this." He opened it and his eyebrows rose.

" 'CROSS ME AND BURN'... catchy!" Riza had made Roy a warm winter black jacket that had the words 'CROSS ME AND BURN' stamped across the back in yellow letter against a large version of his flame transmutation circle. "I'll wear it outside always, promise, even if it's not cold!"

"Now you finally have something other than your uniform to wear outside, hm?"

"Yep, sure do." He grinned at her again and retreated to the mound of baby items. "I got you something too... it's in here somewhere... aha!" he pulled out a small box and opened it slowly, getting down on oneknee in front of her."I know we can't get married... but if the Fraternization rule ever gets fixed... will you marry me?" Riza stared at him, not quite able to figure out what he was doing. "A-are you...?"

"Proposing, yes."

"Oh my God... Yes, yes I will!" he slipped the ring on her finger and picked her up in one movement, carrying her around in circles.

"When I become Fuhrer, that rule is the first that's going to change!"

"What about the miniskirt rule?"

"I was just playing around with that one... unless you want to!"

She shook her head. "Only when we're alone..."

"Then it's settled! Want to go somewhere for dinner?" She nodded and he held out his arm. She took it and they left Maes's house and drove away. "Couple of lovebirds, aren't they Gracie?" said Maes, amused.

"Roy... I'm really scared about work... did you find anyone to help us?"

"I did. It turns out that my own mother was stationed here for nineteen years, and I didn't even know!"

"Your mother... she was taken away when you were ten, wasn't she?"

"Yes... but she's agreed to help us, she'll keep Haruko away from you. In return..."

"' In return' ?"

"In return she wants to see her grandchild once it's born. Not a bad deal I think."

Riza nodded and looked out the car window, stroking her stomach."I wish I didn't have to wait nine months, Roy... I want the baby sooner..." he laughed his hands on the steering wheel. "I know... I wish you'd hurry and have it too, but this is something you can't rush. If you rush it, well, our baby might turn out dead..." She nodded again. "But I want my baby to be here so badly... I don't think I can wait another six months."

"Don't worry about it, you'll be fine. Now come on, do you want dinner or not?"

After sitting down in the resteraunt and ordering, they had some unpleasant company.

"Aha! I knew there was something going on between you two!" Ed hissed, popping up in between them. Roy groaned and Riza held her stomach again, a pained expression on her face. "You're the father, aren't you Mustang?" Ed demanded, and Roy grunted obstinately in response. "So what if I am? What then, Fullmetal?"

"I can give you away to the whole military," Ed crowed, and Roy seized his good arm and jerked it roughly. "Don't you even _dare _Fullmetal. Don't even _dare_." Ed looked at him. "What'll you do, huh? You can't do anything once they dismiss you from the army!" Riza bit her lip in frustration and held her stomach tighter. "If you... just... Fullmetal... _please _don't say anything!" Roy burst out, and Ed looked at him incredulously. Roy Mustang, begging him not to say a word? It was too good to be true! "Why not?" asked Ed.

"I'm finally going to have a family, Fullmetal, don't ruin this for me... Ican't take it if my family is ruined for a second time!" Alphonse, who had had trouble getting through the front door, finally caught up to Ed and glared at him reproachfully, or as reproachfully as he could. "Ed! Don't be so insensitive!"

"But he is!" Ed howled.

"He's... Ed, don't you understand? He wants a family now, and you're butting in trying to deny him of that, so just leave the Colonel alone!" he looked at Riza. "A-are you alright, First Lieutenant?" She moaned. "Roy... t-there's... something's wrong... our b-baby..." Roy leaped up from the table and picked her up bridal style. "Fullmetal, you explain things to the resteraunt manager, Al, you come with me!" Ed sighed as the two of them bolted out with Riza in tow and glanced at the infuriated resteraunt manager. "Uhm, mister, it was like this..."

They put Riza in the backseat and Al sat in the back with her while Roy drove like a madman to the hospital. "Hang on, Riza, we're almost there..." he muttered. "What's wrong, First Lieutenant?" Al asked. She groaned and held her stomach again. "I-it hurts... It doesn't feel natural..." she screamed and curled around her stomach again, which incited Roy to drive even faster than he had before and slam the brakes in the hospital parking lot.

They burst into the lobby. "Somebody, help her! Her baby..." he had no idea what was wrong, but the word 'baby' got most of the faculty calling up doctors, and she was quickly whisked into a room for examination. Roy sat down on a chair in the lobby once he was denied access from the room and stared at the wall. Then he asked for a phone and dialed a number. There were two rings and someone picked up.

"Hello, General Durandal speaking."

"Mom... there's something wrong with our baby."


	8. Let the Girls Talk

**Heir to the Flame**

**Chapter 8: Letting Girls Talk**

A doctor came out in a white coat just as Roy put down the phone and heard his mother say that she would be there soon. The man looked old and sighed, running his hand through graying hair. "Young man, are you her husband?" He thought quickly and came up with a plausible excuse that wasn't too far from the truth. "No, I'm her superior in the military. We were working and she suddenly started having pains... I just brought her here, that's all." The man scrutinized him. "Where's her husband then?"

"...dead." He had to think on his feet; he was not in a good position. The doctor nodded. "Can I see her? We're close friends..." he hated lying about his relationship with Riza, but it was necessary. He didn't think Riza would mind so much anyway... he hoped she didn't. The other man nodded and they left Al to sit dejectedly on a couch in the lobby with specific instructions to point his mother towards the room when she came, then come as well.

"So what's wrong with her?" he asked, sitting down next to her bedside and pushingsome hair out of her sweat slicked face.

"It seems she suffering from some symptoms we only find in older mothers; it's a bit perplexing, but we don't think there's anything very wrong with _her. _We thinkthat the child itself is suffering from some illness or malformation." Roy's brain mulled over the word malformation. "Does that mean it could be born... disfigured?" he asked. The man nodded. "It could be slight, as I said, we don't know the extent of damage, or whether the damage has even started yet. The child itself has not formed enough to tell for sure."

"I see... could we... have some time alone?" The man left and Roy held her hand gently, kissing her brow. She moaned softly and opened her eyes, staring at him blearily. "Roy... honey..." He put his finger to her lips and shushed her. "Riza... do you want to hear what the doctor said?" she drew the covers over her chest and nodded slowly. He stroked the hair out of her face with his forefinger and tried to think of what to say. He took a deep breath and traced it down the side of her face. "He said that baby... he said the baby might be deformed... they're not 100 percent sure though... so there's a chance there won't be any... deformation." Tears welled up in her eyes and she held his arm. "Do you think it will be..." he shushed her again and hugged her, letting her head rest in the crook of his neck. "It doesn't matter even if it is. If it is, we'll love it all the same, won't we?" She nodded. "It might be nothing, Riza...it might not be anything at all, so let's not worry, okay?" She nodded again and the doctor came back in with a note.

"I understand that you work in the military, from this man's statements. Here's a note to keep you out of work for the time being. Be careful with that baby, young lady." She took the pass from his hand and smiled wearily. "For right now, you'll just have to stay here in the hospital. We might need to examine you in case your pains get worse." Ilia burst into the room and the doctor chose the moment to sidle out. She seized Riza by her forearms and looked her up and down worriedly, felt her forehead, then busied herself by wetting cloths and placing them on Riza's forehead. Riza looked at Roy and he mouthed 'my mother' at her. She laid back down without complaint.

"You were right Roy, she _is _a pretty one." Riza blushed. "Now you keep healthy for that baby, and you'll be fine. Oh this makes me think back to when I was pregnant with Roy..." Roy reddened. "Mom, I don't want to hear about this!" Ilia sighed and continued as if she hadn't heard Roy. Roy grumbledand he and Al retreated to the lobby to wait and let the women talk.

"When I was carrying Roy I was always so tired... even though he was a small baby. Leroy and I were only sixteen; not very smart for either of us, but neither of us regretted having him after he was born. He was so cute..." Riza smiled and settled back into the pillows. "You really... loved you husband, didn't you?" Ilia nodded sadly. "Yes... but they took me away from him and my little boy and sent me to a command near Aquorya. Then it suddenly shut down a few years ago and they sent me to Central." Riza sat up. "That must have been when Roy and I were transferred to East City! They were keeping you apart intentionally!"

She nodded sadly. "Apparently so... Take care of Roy, will you? I know it doesn't seem like it, but he does need a lot of looking after, what with the life he's had, I don't blame him. Judging from his father though... you'll have a lot on your hands. My boy's a trouble maker." She smiled and Riza laughed softly. "Can he take care of kids though?" Riza asked, stroking her stomach.

"Once you get him devoted to something, he won't even pause for a break. I remember... when he was about seven, he found a stray puppy in the road, injured. I'm allergic to dogs, so I wouldn't let him keep it, and Itold him to take it to the vet to heal it. He did, said there was nothing they could do, and pretended to drop the dog off somewhere.

"Turns out that three weeks later I find that puppy running around in the back yard completely better, and Roy sneaked out to check his legs every night. After that I let him keep the puppy as long as it was in the back yard... he's so adamant..."

"If you think that's bad you should have heard his 'tiny miniskirt' rule... once he became Fuhrer he said that all female officers would be recquired to wear tiny miniskirts."

Ilia choked on the water she was drinking. "Little rogue! He's just like his father... Leroy would threaten me with that, teasingly. He'd say something and if I refused he'd tell me that once he became Fuhrer, he'd make me wear a tiny miniskirt!"

'So that's where Roy got tiny miniskirts from... like father like son.' Riza thought to herself. "I'd have thought that you and your husband would have had more children..."

"I... we did. I got pregnant three times... the first two were girls, both miscarriages... the third and last was Roy. I guess you could sayI spoiled him a little bit when he was very young... but Leroy was much more strict with him than I was." Riza nodded sympathetically, it must have been hard for her to lose two children. How could she resist pampering her son a bit? "Why was Roy's father so strict?"

"Leroy... expected a lot from Roy, wanted him to follow in his steps as the next Flame Alchemist, all this talk of Mustang family tradition, but you could tell he was so proud of just Roy's existance. He would have doted on him if he didn't know better, and Roy adored his father, nevermissed out on a chance to go off somewhere with him or play with him..."

Roy stood behind the door and smiled, letting them talk. Neither of them knew he was listening in, maybe it was better that way.


	9. Riza: Abducted?

**Heir to the Flame**

**Chapter 9: Riza- Abducted?**

Riza slept in relative peace that night even without Roy at constant watch at her bedside. She had to admit that it didn't feel comfortable anymore without him next to her, but she could survive with him for a while as long as she could see him when she woke up. Roy leaned up against the wall, cast a furtive glance at Riza, then his watch, and strode out of the room, out to his car, and drove away.

At the steering wheel he peered around in the darkness, vaguely wondering why a white car was turning into the hospital so late at night. He shrugged it off and continued down the road to his house. He had better bring Riza some clothes to wear and other supplies while she was in the hospital.

Jean Havoc, meanwhile, was casually smoking his cigarette, his legs propped up on Roy Mustang's desk when the owner of the office barged in. Havoc nearly spat out his cigarette, then grinned and slapped his knee. "Damn Colonel, speak of the devil!"

"You're lookin' at him," Roy growled, rummaging around in his ever deepening closet for some article of Riza's ownership. Havoc watched him throw out shirts, cigarettes, tatters, glasses, and empty shells. He finally found what he was looking for and yanked out a few of Riza's shirts and pants, then wondered how they got there... he didn't remember, but had a good idea how they might have, and guessed that Havoc did too from the suspicious look on his face.

"Been having... fun with the First Lieutenant, Colonel?"

"What do you mean, Havoc?"

"I've been wondering why the door's been locked so often down here... you've been taking advantage of her, haven't you!"

"I don't know what you mean," Roy snapped irritibly. Havoc was angry and Roy could tell. "What's it to you?" he growled at Havoc. Havoc was just about to tell him what it was to him when the phone rang. Roy shot Havoc a dirty look and picked up the phone.

"Hello, Colonel Mustang here."

"Colonel Mustang? I- You better get down here quickly... the woman you brought here..." Roy didn't need further prompting. "I'll be right there," he said quickly, slamming down the phone. "Something's happened to Riza in the hospital," Roy nearly moaned. Havoc's mouth worked slowly, then he swallowed quickly as Roy picked up his car keys and raced for the door again. "Colonel!" he called. Roy paused for an instant. "I'm coming with you!" Roy nodded and waved for him to hurry.

In the car, once again speeding down the road, Roy looked at Havoc very briefly out of the corner of his eye. "Havoc," he began. Havoc turned his attention to Roy. "I... there's something you should know..." Havoc waited patiently and Roy swallowed hard, trying to figure out just how he could tell Havoc. "Riza... Riza is pregnant... that's why she's in the hospital." He heard Havoc suck in his breath quickly and he focused all of his attention on the road in front of him.

"You're the father?" he questioned, and Roy confirmed it. "I haven't been taking advantage of her... it's just that I... I love her Havoc..." Havoc snorted irritably, and Roy noted the absence of a cigarette. "You love her and all the other women you've been dating recently?" he growled. Roy shook his head, trying to explain. "No, that's just another way for me to get some information on the higher-ups. I've explained that to her already, and she understands." Havoc still gave him a skeptical look. "Ask her if you don't believe me!"

"What will you do after the kid is born?"

"Hide it as best as we can; we have it planned out. I'll act as if nothing ever happened, and Riza will pretend she had a miscarriage, then the situation at the office will clear up and we'll be able to continue to work."

"And Fullmetal? He won't let you off the hook easily."

"I've sent him to Lior; that should keep the kid tangled up for a while longer. If we're lucky, he'll unseat the prophet up there too..."

_It would be significant to note that at this very moment, Ed and Al have just broken a radio in Lior._

"But Roy... how long do you think you can keep the kid a secret? They'll notice if you start to leave early from work to take care of _something. _As far as they're concerned you're still a very promiscuous bachelor with two dates a night." Roy sweatdropped at the steering wheel. "For your information, Roy Glenn Mustang is _not _promiscuous! And who said I _ever _had two dates a night? Well... not one that I was ever serious about anyway..." he slumped a little.

"So you're serious about Riza?"

"I am serious about Elizabeth Hawkeye."

"I just can't help but think that it can't last..."

Roy boiled.

"We're here," he hissed, leaping out of the car and slamming the door before breaking into a dead run for the hospital. He grabbed the handles of the doors and, finding out they were locked,proceeded to slam himself into the door screaming 'let me in, dammit' until someone opened it. He flew past them and into Riza's room uninvited where he was met with an empty bloodstained bed. Havoc found him with his eyes bugged out to the size of dinnerplates on his knees on the floor.

"Where is she?" Havoc asked. Roy shook his head slowly, still staring uncomprehendingly. Havoc then deduced that Roy was in shock and went to find someone who could help. After Havoc left Roy got to his feet with agonizing slowness and crossed over to the bed where Riza had been lying a few hours... no, probably not half an hour before. There was blood all over it; hers or someone elses he did not know, nor, he thought as his stomach turned, did he wish to find out.

A doctor came in. "Colonel Mustang, we're glad you're here; maybe you know what happened here?"

"I'm sure I have no clue..." Roy said hollowly. "What exactly happened? Who did this?" he asked, gesturing to the bed. The doctor mopped his forehead with a cloth. "There was a woman who drove in just after you left and asked to come into this room. We let her in and the next thing we knew, the woman here screamedand we heard gunshots- what are you doing?" Roy surveyed a bullet buried into a wall. "This isn't Riza's bullet... it's not even a military weapon... did this woman leave anything behind? Did you get her name?"

"She said her name was Violet... she left this in the room." He held up a thorny rose and Roy took it, a look of horrible realization dawning on his face that worried Havoc to no end.

"Violet," Roy repeated. "Damn! Violet! Havoc, give me a gun!" Havoc started and stared at Roy's outstretched hand. "Don't just stand there man, give me a gun!" Roy screamed at him. Havoc tossed him one and Roy jumped out the open window to his car, waited just long enough for Havoc to situate himself in the passenger side, and hit the gas pedal.

"You going to tell me what this is about, Colonel?" Havoc muttered, holding onto the seat for dear life and wondering why they hadn't gotten a ticket by now. He was wondering why they weren't dead by now; the Colonel was driving like a madman with one arm, one eye, and half a brain missing. "Violet... Violet is an ex-girlfriend of mine... we broke up because she's insanely possessive and jealous... she thought I was cheating on her, we had a row, and I broke up with her. I didn't think it would come to this... she must have been..." he had another epiphany.

"She was stalking you Colonel? How long ago did you break up?"

"Ahh... two years ago... I think." Havoc sweatdropped. "She's been stalking you for two years and you didn't even notice?"

"I guess I was worrying about other things..." Roy muttered sourly, and yet another random epiphany struck him.

"Does that mean she was watching when Riza and I were- Oh my God." Havoc wanted to laugh insanely and throw up over the side of thecar at the same time. "I need to pay more attention when I go out now... hell, I need to draw and lock all my windows now too! And where the hell did she take Riza?"

"You mean you don't know?" Havoc yelled at him.

"Well... not really... wait a second, Havoc, hold up that rose for a second, would you?" They stopped at a light and Havoc held up the rose for Roy's examination. "I remember those... you only find that kind wild near some of the military warehouses..." Havoc looked at it too.

"Now that you remind me... near warehouse six, right? In between warehouses six and seven?" Roy nodded and pushed the pedal even harder, making the car put on another burst of speed.

The car screeched to a halt near warehouse four and Havoc staggered out unsteadily, gawking as Roy got out perfectly fine. "Do you drive like that all the time Colonel?" Roy shot a look at him. "No, I usually walk."

Roy snuck down in between warehouses six and seven and peered through the grimy windows of warehouse six. Seeing nothing, he jumped down from the crates and clambered up onto more crates near warehouse seven and pressed his face against that nasty window.

"Riza!" he whispered. He peered around as best as he could, trying to scope her condition, but he could only see her lying on the floor ina heap, which worried him. He couldn't see her stomach either, which gave him bouts of anxiety. He leaped down from the crates and went to the doors of warehouse seven, grabbed the handle, and tried to lift it up. It wouldn't budge no matter how hard he pulled, and he pulled until his face turned red. He huffed tiredly and stepped back, removing a glove from his pocket. He fitted it on his hand, snapped his fingers, and melted a hole through the metal. He stepped through quickly being mindful of the melting metal and ran halfway to Riza when he heard a gun cock in front of him just as Havoc stepped in behind him complaining of the damage and how obvious it was that he had done it.

He saw a woman in front of his quirk a twisted smile and point a gun at Riza's prone form on the ground.

"It's nice to see you again Roy," Violet murmured.

* * *

I know, I know... before my fans kill me, I will admit that I like to put Roy and Riza into uncomfortable and very dangerous situations. See, I admitted it. As to when this story is set, it's a bit of a 'what if' 'dark secrets' story that's set when Ed has just begun his quest for the philospher's stone. I have read up to chapter 52 in the manga and seen quite a bit of the anime, so my knowledge of the plot is not so lacking; just thought I'd clear this up.

Now that I think about it, this story might actually end up becoming a variation of the original plot of Fullmetal Alchemist. If it does, it'll come with a bucketfull of spoilers... -sigh-

Anyways, twenty plus reviews of chapter... uh... i think it was seven! Not bad, not bad at all! Unfortunately, I've been cruel and left you another cliffy. Don't hate me T.T

-T A


	10. Roy Junior? Maybe

**Heir to the Flame**

**Chapter 10**

"Violet, what... what are you doing?" Roy took a step forward and Violet's blue eyes widened, and a smile lit her face. "No no no, not another step Roy." Havoc slowed to a stop behind Roy. Roy clenched his teeth as Riza moaned and stirred and Violet's grip on the gun tightened. "Violet, please stop! Don't... don't hurt her!" Roy didn't want to risk taking another step and stayed perfectly still. Riza shook her head slowly, then cried out in pain and held her left leg while at the same time trying to hold her right arm, both bleeding freely. She looked up and her frightened amber eyes locked onto Roy's. Roy's stomach twisted itself into knots and his mind exploded on the spot.

He threw himself forward towards her, unable to contain himself any longer and look into her eyes to see the pleading look in them. Havoc opened his mouth to yell and three shots rang out, each burying itself into Roy's back. He cried out in pain and fell in front of Riza and she dragged herself forward to reach him. She reached him slowly and painfully and wrapped her arms tightly around him, feeling his back and wincing as he cried out and stifled his grunt of pain.

Havoc took action immediately and whipped out hisgun, pointing it at Violet's head, and she did the same to him. She smiled again, flicking her head slightly to remove long brown strands from her eyes. "Be careful military man; one shot is all you'll get on me. I don't miss." Havoc gritted his teeth and stood his ground, his arm unwavering. "There's only one of us here that never misses," he said, his blue eyes never moving from hers. "There's only one of us here who's eyes are like a hawk's!" He threw himself to the side and hurled his gun across the floor to Riza's outstretched hand. She caught it and raised it, squinting one eye just as Roy turned to hold up the one hand whose glove was not stained in blood. He was supporting her with one arm, she supported him with her own arm as they both took aim at their tormentor. Riza noticed that Roy's hand was trembling terribly and blood mixed sweat coursed down his fatigued face; he didn't have enough energy to torch anyone. She removed the arm that supported him quickly, and, still watching Violet, she pulled the trigger as Roy fell against her, causing her to wobble.

Two shots cracked in the warehouse and the lights went dark. She felt a hand grab her in the dark and cried out before realizing it was Roy; Roy who was in no condition to drag himself out. She found his face and trailed her fingers down his body until she found his waist and sufficient strength to pull him up. Havoc had found them as well and supported Roy with one arm. Finding out that that wouldn't work, he lifted his superior onto his shoulder and hauled Riza up by the waist without waiting for her to stand.He bolted through the warehouse door and put them both into the back seat of Roy's car with difficulty, then hopped into the driver's seat and drove as fast as he could back to Eastern command.

Roy was definitely in worse shape than Riza, who had sustained only two wounds, one in the arm and one in the leg. With her good arm, she stroked Roy's hair gently. He had been laid rather haphazardly on his stomach, thinking it better not to be laid on his wounded back. His head rested on her lap and he looked up at her as best he could. She smiled at him tiredly. "How are you doing?" she asked, continuing to stroke him. He smirked at her, his eyes showing almost too well that he was in pain. "I'm alright I guess." He coughed painfully and looked out the window, assessing that Havoc was heading back to the hospital.

"Havoc," he croaked. "Head back to Central Command." Havoc shot hima look. "What are you talking about? Have you seen the state that you're in Mustang? You wouldn't last the ride there!" Roy shook harder as he coughed and Riza held him tighter. "Havoc, just take him!" Havoc blew some stray hair out of his eyes and gritted his teeth. "Alright, if that's what you want."

Roy closed his eyes slowly and listened to Riza talking to him, her words just flowing over him.

"Roy." Her voice was a bit more forceful.

"Hmm?" Was his reply, now too tired to open his eyes all that much.

"I know what to name the baby now... if it's a boy."

"Mmm."

"I want... I want to name him after you."

His eyes opened a crack. "Me?"

She nodded.

"Roy Junior?" he queried. She stroked his hair and nodded again. "Heheh... Roy Junior... Roy... Junior..." he closed his eyes again and drifted off to sleep, a smile on his face. He dreamed of a little baby boy running around his mansion, a baby boy that he and Riza could raise, who he could teach to be the next Flame Alchemist, a boy he could play with, teach to be a man he guessed. And maybe after that, they would have a little girl, a beautiful little girl who looked just like her mother. He'd play with them every day after work, kiss their mother and tell them all that he'd done as Fuhrer of thecountry... he wanted to be a father they could be proud of. He already was... wasn't he? Perhaps...

He wasn't proud of certain times in his life, but there were many to be proud of; and he wasn't talking about his 'playboy' days. Well, there was the fact that he'd gotten into the military at age thirteen, just a year before his father died. He'd had a good childhood, it wasn't perfect; hiding his mother under secret holes in the floor was not the most fun thing to do, sure, but they had been there for him, they had been great parents. He hoped he could live up to the responsibility.

Havoc turned in the seat. "Mustang! Don't die on me yet, man, we're at Central!"

"Get... Mother..."

"Eh?"

"Durandal... General Durandal."

Havoc got out of the car and told them he'd be back as fast as he could. A few minutes later, Ilia raced out of the building bundled up in a coat and groaned inwardly when she saw the state of them. She shook her head and pressed her hands against his chest, and Havoc looked at her in confusion. What could this woman possibly do?

Light flowed from her hands and minute cuts opened themselves all over her arms till she was crisscrossed with them. Roy gasped quickly as Ilia pulled away and held her arms, then winced and crashed back down. "Aaagh! I thought you'd perfected healing by now!"

Ilia gave him a motherly patient look. "I didn't heal you perfectly because you need to feel some pain.It's good for you; maybe you won't do something so dangerous again." He grunted and sat up stiffly, the bullet holes in his back removed. He touched his mother's arms and she winced. "Sorry Mom..." She shook her head slowly. "What are mothers for except to take care of their children? And their children's lovers..." she healed Riza as well and more tiny cuts opened on her body.

"How did you do that?" Riza asked.

"Well you see... when I just started my career in the military... I was the Healing Alchemist."

Roy grinned and laid back in the car. "One more favor, Mom. Think you could drive us home?"


	11. Little Roy and Little Ms Havoc

**Heir to the Flame**

**Chapter 11: Little Roy and Little Ms. Havoc**

Roy sighed; it had only been a week since he'd gotten back to Eastern Command, and here he was bored as hell already. Fullmetal probably wouldn't be back until tomorrow, so making fun of him was a no go, and Havoc had taken leave to visit his father in West City, so there would be no burning of Havoc until well into next week. Fuery and the others thought that Roy looked downright gloomy.

"What do you think's wrong with him Falman?" Fuery asked in a low voice so Roy wouldn't hear. Falman shrugged, then looked back at Roy's office thoughtfully. He stroked his chin in deep thought and his face lit up. "It's got to be the First Lieutenant! Ever since she left for Central he's been acting this way, maybe the Colonel's in..."

"LOVE!" Fuery said ecstatically, and Falman clamped his hand over the young sergeant's mouth and dragged him to a corner. He let go of Fuery and put a finger over his mouth. "Shush! He'll fry us for sure if he finds out what we're talking about!" Fuery shrugged, embarassed. "Sorry Sir. But the First Lieutenant... you saw her stomach didn't you?"

"What about a stomach?" Roy yelled from the doorway, pacing to and fro in the office.

"Um... Colonel..." Fuery ventured. Roy bit his lip angrily and continued to pace, shooting a look at Fuery, telling him to continue.

"Um, it's the First Lieutenant Sir... I was just wondering-"

"Wondering WHAT?" Roy yelled.

"Uh, um, eh, that is... um... if you noticed... that the First Lieutenant is... uh... pregnant?"

Roy stared at him for a minute, then burst into laughter. "Of course I know, I should know! Eh-" He stopped abruptly and donned his usual serious personage. "It was easy to see, wasn't it?"

Fuery and Falman sweatdropped. "You're... very bad at covering yourself up, Sir..."

Roy floundered a bit moreand decided that the game was up. He cleared his throat. "Um, well, that is, I-"

"He got the First Lieutenant pregnant, the old dog!" Havoc cried, bursting into the office for the first time that day.

"Havoc! I thought you were..."

"Visiting my folks? Turns out they've already left for someplace else, ungrateful... Anyways, the Colonel's gonna be a daddy!" Havoc sang, dodging away from Roy's grabs at his neck. Fuery and Falman's mouths hung open. "Really Colonel?"

"Yeah..." Roy grunted, retreating back to his office. Falman had a brainwave and held out a book to him. "So does that mean this is yours, Sir? I thought it was the First Lieutenant's, but now..." Roy snatched the book from him and scanned the title. " 'Baby Girl Names... and Baby Boy Names... how conveniant. It must be Riza's, but I'll borrow it," he declared, dumping himself onto a couch and opening it to the 'girl' section.

"You want a girl, Colonel?"

"Maybe. Doesn't matter so much to me, but Riza already picked out a boy name."

"Really, which one?"

"She wants to name him Roy Junior."

Falman and Fuery kept their faces straight and fought the urge to laugh. Poor Havoc on the other hand, was not so fortunate.

"Hahahahahahah! Roy Junior?"

Roy glared at him over the top of the book. "What's wrong with Roy Junior?" he demanded.

Havoc bent over with mirth. "N-nothing Sir," he gasped.

Roy decided not to pursue the matter any further and went back to the book.

"Help me will you? I'll just read them off here... Ana?"

"Nah."

"Aria?"

"...it's okay."

"One check there... Becca?"

"Ewww..."

"Bethany?"

"No way man!"

"Catherine?"

"Nope."

"Uhhhm... Lyra?"

"Ooooh... Nice one..."

"Two checks.Maria?"

"Oldish, isn't it?"

"Patricia?"

No response.

"Riana?"

"No."

"Raya?"

"...I dunno..."

"How bout...-"

"Hey everybody! How're ya doing?" Maes threw open the doors of the office and Roy jumped clear out of his seat. Maes grinned and held up three fingers. "Three feet Mustang. Jumpy are we?"

"Yes, God dammit Maes, don't do that!"

"A'right, I won't. You're thinking of girl names? Lyra was a nice one."

"You think so, Maes?"

"Yep."

"I'll ask Riza then. Speaking of which... why are you here in Eastern Command anyhow?"

"Do you know what day it is today?"

"Uhh... noooo..."

"Today, lamebrain, is the four and half month halfway point of Riza's pregnancy! You think he'd keep track of stuff like this, but nooo..."

"Okay Maes, I get it." He said it, then realized that he didn't.

"I still don't understand why your here and not back in Central."

"Well... there hasn't been much to do. It's getting a little boring around Central. Riza doesn't go to work too much anymore, which keeps her away from Haruko and lets her take walks around town. She loves those walks, especially with her pup."

"Hmm... Black Hayate right?"

The Black Hayate they referred to was a massive dog with a shoulder height up to Riza's hip, and was about six or seven years old. In any case, he was an old dog. He followed Riza everywhere, bidden or unbidden, except on trains to which he was confined to the storage compartment.

"Maes... how's Riza doing?"

"Well, she puffing up, that's for sure. She's actually cuter when she's plump, you should see her."

Roy tried to imagine a plumped up Riza and failed. "I'll be coming over again tomorrow Maes."

"I know! Listen, we need to have a night on the town, me, you, and Havoc! It'll be justlike old times!"

"I'll second that!" Havoc said happily. "S'been a while since we've had a man's night out, the three of us."

"We'll go tonight?" Maes asked, looking hopefully at Roy. Roy's brow twitched and he frowned. "I don't know... oh... all right... I'll call homefirst, to see if my date... is there." He got up from the sofa and glanced at the clock. He stretched and yawned, then looked at the door. "It's about time for me to leave anyway, on a... ah... 'date'. I'll call you guys when I get back home."

Maes and Havoc grabbed Roy's uniform sleeves and pulled him out the door. "Then you should be getting ready for your date, shouldn't you? Let's go!"

After they had left the building, Maes and Havoc glared at him. "And what is this 'date'?"

"I was just making an excuse to leave! Don't tell me you didn't see one of the generals peeking in the office! I had to change the subject."

"Oh, damn we almost got busted didn't we?" Maes said, embarrassed.

"I'll say! Now where do you guys want to go?"

"We want to get as drunk as humanely possibly before tomorrow night!" Havoc and Maes chimed together.

"Why?"

"Well, you know that Gracie's pregnant already, don't you? It's almost nine months, and after she's born I won't have any time to get drunk! I hope she's _adorable_... You're the godfather, remember Roy?"

"Yes yes, I remember... what are you going to name... the girl, you said?" Roy asked as they walked down the streets, unbuttoning their military uniforms.

"Well, Gracie wanted something like Elizabeth, and I wanted something like Alicia, so we combined the two and got Elysia! An adorable name for an adorable girl!" Hughes practically oozed.

"What about you, Havoc?"

Havoc, however, looked very uncomfortable. "I don't want to talk about it..."

"Really? You sure?"

"Maybe later," was all he said, and Roy gave up, figuring that if he knew Jean well enough, that his old friend would burst sooner or later.

"You know, you should check whether your kid is a boy or girl. I think you can by now," Hughes suggested, noticing that Roy was purposely steering them away from any bars in East City. Roy looked at them both slyly. "I know, that's where we're going. I'm going to get the reports right now."

"But if you get it, then they'll suspect..." Jean started.

"Nah, I've got it covered already. Riza's getting too round to come get it herself, so I'm getting it so I can give it to her, no sweat." Havoc wasn't convinced at all, but decided that if something went wrong, Maes probably had a back up plan. At least, he hoped so. He twiddled his fingers and Roy shot him a look, but said nothing.

"Look! I need to get some reports too!" Havoc burst at last, and the other two gaped at him. Havoc's agitation increased and he turned red. Roy put his arm around Havoc's shoulder. "Ahhh, so you finally got a girl, eh Havoc?" He said, grinning through Havoc's indignant 'it's not like that!'.

"It's alright Havoc, admit it! But how'd you find one that'd put up with the cigarette?" Roy asked as Havoc muttered darkly. "You don't have to say it that way..." Havoc whined. "She's a very nice person... she said as long as I don't smoke up the house, she's fine with it."

"Must be a regular martyr, that one."

Havoc growled at Maes. "She's in the hospital rightnow getting checked, and I was going to go anyway! So let's go!" he jogged ahead of the other two and threw a look over his shoulder. "C'mon, c'mon!" He said impatiently.

After they reached the hospital, Havoc immediately stamped out his cigarette, checked in, and ran to a room. Roy's papers were coming eventually, so he and Maes followed Havoc into a hospital room.He was sitting by a woman who was lying in bed, and he held her hand in his. Roy's mouth dropped open. "She looks a little young... Havoc?"

"Oh shove off Roy, she's only two years younger than me... Her name is Keira. Keira, these are my friends. The snotty arrogant one is Roy, and the nice one in glasses is Maes," he said as Roy fumed. "Snotty arrogant one...?"

"It's nice to meet you," she said tiredly, laying back down again. Maes covered his face with a hand. "Geez you guys, you're getting women pregnant right and left without even getting married... what's wrong with you people?"

"Jean?" she looked at him and he watched her. "Yeah?"

"It's going to be a girl."

"Really? I mean.. um... really!" He jumped up, and sat back down again. "I'm just... I'm just nervous... and... happy!" He hugged Keira and a man came in to hand Roy the papers. Roy read them and sweatdropped, looking at Havoc.

"What?" Havoc demanded.

"We're having a boy," Roy said.

Havoc glared at him. "You better keep your boy away from my girl!"

"What's that supposed to mean? Who implied anything about them getting close?" Roy yelled.

"Yeah, what was I thinking? Your'll be ugly anyway..."

"Havoc!"

"Mustang!"

They jumped at each other and collided, punching, kicking and biting each other, and Keira sighed.

"Don't worry," Maes said, "They're always like this."


	12. The Mysterious Caller

**Heir to the Flame**

**Chapter 12: The Mysterious Caller**

Roy had somehow managed to pin Havoc down on the ground and smirked at him. "Heheheh... never could get the best of me, Havoc." Havoc growled at him, his face on the floor. "Get off of me, Roy! You know I go easy on you because you're smaller!"

"That's not true!"

"It is too! Let go of my arms and I'll prove it!"

"You're beat, just admit it."

Keira sighed from the bed and Havoc bounced up from the floor, knocking Roy over and into Maes, who tumbled onto the floor. "What?" he asked, looking into her green eyes. "What will we name her?" she asked, and Havoc put his chin in his hand and exhaled slowly. She sniffed and her nose wrinkled for a moment. "You've been smoking again, haven't you?"

"I've been _trying _to quit, I swear Keira!"

"Really Jean?"

"Yes! I'll be clean by the time the baby comes!"

"Good!" she said, hugging him tightly. "I want to name her Luna..."

"Luna... Luna Havoc... sounds good!"

Maes and Roy, meanwhile, were having a fit in the corner. "L-Luna... Luna Havoc! Hahahahahaha!"

Jean gave them a murderous look, pulled a gun from his waist holster, and cocked it. "You know, I may not be as good as Riza... but I can still aim pretty damn good!" Roy and Maes took this as their cue to leave. Roy grunted. "Sheesh... touchy much?" Maes held out his hand for the papers and Roy gave them to him.

"Well well... looks pretty big for just four and a half months... he's probably going to be a lot like you Roy."

"Yeah... that's what I'm worried about... but if he looks exactly like me, I can say that Riza had a miscarriage and that this one is mine. I can bring him to work, so that's no problem..."

"Unless of course he screams for his mother the whole day, hours on end, and conveniantly stops when Riza is in the room."

"Riza is always in the same room with me, so that's covered."

"You realize that this will be tremendously straining on Riza. That's her baby and she can't show any kind of affection, or she'll blow your cover."

"If the baby looked like her, then she could keep it, but... I'm... well... If she's walking around with a baby that looks like me, what will the obvious conclusion be?"

"Can't beat logic... she could always drop out of the military, you know, resign."

"I can't ask her to do that... she's already said she won't. She won't drop out until after I'm Fuhrer, maybe not even after that."

"I see..."

Havoc came out with Keira on his arm, Keira sporting a very shiny diamond on her ring finger. Roy made eye contact with Jean and nodded slightly at the ring, and Jean nodded back; he had proposed. Then something struck Roy.

"Havoc... why were you so angry when you thought I was involved with the First Lieutenant?" he asked. Havoc looked blank at first, then realized what the heck Roy was talking about in the first place. "Oh! Well, Riza and I... the easiest way to say it is that we're relatives; a bit distant, so I won't bore you with the family tree gist of it. I was just... concerned for family's sake, you know." Havoc shrugged. "We're so distant that we might not be considered related at all, and it's not by blood anyway."

* * *

Riza groaned and turned over in bed, trying to grope around for the phone even though her eyes were tightly shut. She found the reciever at last and yanked it up, coughed momentarily, and groaned into the phone, "Who is this, and what do you want?"

A rather miffed sounding masculine voice resonated over the phone."Man, one phone call and this is what I get? I thought you wanted me to call more often, sweetheart." Riza sighed and laid down in bed, smiling slightly."Mm-hmm... I'm glad you called, Jackory."

"I hate it when you call me that, if you must, shorten it to Jack."

"How's your dad?"

"Dad? He's fine, still his old wandering self. I think he might be in your area, so if you see him, be nice and say hi, Elizabeth."

"If you call me Elizabeth, I'll call you Jackory."

"Fine, done deal Riza."

"Thank you, Jack."

"You holding up alright? Want me to come see you or anything?"

"No, no I'm fine. I've missed you though, Jack."

A soft pause on the other end. "I've missed you too, Riza.And we've only been apart for... couldn'tve been more than a few months! Are you sure... you don't want me to visit or anything... stay the night maybe?"

"No... it's okay, I'm fine. Well... maybe... Jack."

"Yeah?"

"Can I see you tonight in Central Park?"

"Sure, what time?"

"...eleven o' clock, one hour before midnight."

"Alright, I'll be there."

"I love you Jackory."

"I love you too, Elizabeth."

Riza hung up the phone and laid on her back, waiting for eleven o' clock, one hour before midnight.

* * *

I must say that I can't wait to see you guys freak out. Tell me whatcha think, review! Review! And try to make the reviews more than a word! You know, if I got as many reviews as Heir to the Flame has favorites... well... I'd have a whole lot of reviews to sift through. I wish T.T

And yes, getting women pregnant without getting married is against my ethics as well, but it makes the story a whole lot better if you ask me. Also, well... nevermind, I'll make you wait for it! Mwahahahahah! I'll just say that something very bad will happen later in the story, and I'm not even going to tell you to who!

Oh no... I left another cliffy... must-stop-putting-cliffies-aaagh. I can't seem to stop, I'm addicted. Time to go to rehab... I think I gave you a break last chapter though.. so maybe I don't need rehab.

Anyway, thanks for all your loyal support, especially my die-hard fan unexpectation who revies everything I write.

And, lastly, for anyone who cares, I've got a new story which can only be described as strange... The Revenge of Mr.Bean. It is supposedly the TRUE story of Edward Elric, written by my ten year old brother. Next off is for all the Jean Havoc fans, a bit of a side continuation of this and a major spoiler for this story's later chapters... okay just a bit. It's called... Wrecking Havoc. You know, there are very few good Jean Havoc stories online...

-T A


	13. Jackory

**Heir to the Flame**

**Chapter 13: Jackory**

Riza checked her clock and slipped out of Maes's house, Black Hayate at her heels. She headed straight for Central Park wrapped in a thick coat and pushed open the gates when she got there. She squinted in the moonlight and looked towards the lake to see a tall man sillouhted against the black. He turned his head and looked her dead in the eyes, brown eyes locking onto hers. He was wearing a large jacket opened down the front revealing a black shirt and a chain with a hawk pendant hanging from it.

"It's been a while, Elizabeth."

She nodded. "It has, Jackory."

Jackory brushed his blonde hair from his eyes, still watching her intently. "And how have you been?" he asked. She shrugged. "Fine, I guess." He cocked his head to the side. "You've never been one to give vague answers, Elizabeth."

"I'm fine right now... but my stomach hurts. A lot." He nodded slowly. "I would suppose so, with a stomach like that. I daresay that isn't a coat of your ownership?"

She looked at the coat she had thrown on herself and laughed softly. "No, it's Roy's."

"Mustang?" he asked, interested now. She nodded again and her neck began to ache dully. "I remember a Mustang... just a bit. When we were children, remember? A General Mustang... I can't recall his name. He stayed a while at Father's house with his son; his son asked you to marry him and I kicked him in a river."

"I also remember that he dropped a beehive on your head and threw a stick into your bike wheels while you were riding it. You flipped and hit a tree, and a cat jumped down on your head hissing and spitting." Jackory flushed a bit and shrugged.

"How's your life in the military been? Are you proud of what you've done?" he asked softly. Riza's face darkened and her hand strayed to her stomach. "No... I'm not proud of the things I've done, Jackory."

"Did the Ishbal War fulfill anything for you?"

"No, it didn't."

"Then why do you continue to serve?"

"So Roy can become Fuhrer, and I refuse to stop until he's Fuhrer, or until we're both dead!"

"Whichever comes first," Jackory murmured.

"Tell Father I'm not going to drop the military. For all the bad things I've done, we've done... this is the only thing we can do to repent." Jackory held the pendant in his hand, his eyes half closed, thoughtful. "Father didn't mean it when he said not to come back, Riza. He said... he said he is willing to support you in whatever you do. You can always come back home for anything. Any kind of help." She nodded again and the pain intensified.

"Why did you come, Jack?"

"Oh, ah... well you see... I was taking my family, my wife and kid you know, on a trip... and uh..." he twiddled his fingers. "We got seperated. I think I got on the wrong train, so now she's probably worried sick about me..." Riza sighed and shook her head. "That's just like you, Jack. How do you lose track of your family and get on another train?"

"There was a big crowd and all the trains look the same to me. The problem was that I was supposed to get on train six, and the sign for train nine had flipped upside down..."

"I see. Now shouldn't you be trying to get back to your family, Jack?"

"The train stations said to come back tomorrow, and how could I resist visiting my twin sister, eh?" He asked, hugging her and kissing her cheek.

"Hmph. Whatever you say." Black Hayate panted next to her and she petted him, scratching behind his ears. Black Hayate's ears pricked up and he swiveled around, panting. "What is it, Hayate?" Black Hayate bounded towards the bushes and leaped, colliding with Roy who had been walking right behind the bush in question.

"Aagh! Hayate?" He looked up at Riza and Jackory and his face paled. Riza turned and saw Roy, her mouth dropping open. "Roy, I..." Roy heard nothing of course, but instead of thinking rationally, his exploded brain jumped to the worst conclusion.

_Oh my God, what the ! Holy , is Riza cheating on me? And with a blonde! Damn it, it all!_

"Roy wait, this isn't what you're thinking!" Roy's mouth clamped shut and he got up quickly, brushing dirt off of his coat. He gave Riza one pained and forlorn look, turned on his heel, and strode away. Riza grabbed Jackory's jacket cuff and dragged him quickly after Roy. When he was in sight she let go of him and ran until she wasclose and jumped towards him. He jerked forward when she fell against him and grabbed his waist and he turned. She looked up into his eyes and realized that he was crying as a tear fell on her face.

"Don't cry... Roy... that man, he's my twin brother. My brother, Jack." He wasn't entirely sure whether to believe her or not, and he looked away. She reached up and grabbed his face, pulling it back towards her. "Please believe me Roy..." He sighed heavily and rested his chin on her head. He was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. He pulled away a bit and cocked his head at her, taking a deep breath.

"Why eleven o' clock at night though?"

"It was already nine o' clock when he called, so I thought that I'd see him in two hours... I... should have told you before I left, but you weren't there... so I took Hayate with me."

"That was dangerous, Riza. A pregnant woman walking the streets alone close to midnight with no one to protect her but a dog... be more careful, for mine and the baby's sakes if not yours." He sounded like he was lecturing her and she pouted at him. He caught the look on her face and stopped, but began to hum a tune under his breath to himself. "Can we go home now?" he asked.

"Elizabeth... I've cause a bit of trouble, but would it be too much to ask to spend the night at your place? I'll be heading for the station tomorrow morning," Jackory said, a bit out of place. "Well, that's Roy's choice."

"I wouldn't mind, but it's not my house. You'll need to ask Maes, and you'll probably have to sit through the photos of his last vacation with Gracia; he just got them developed you know."

* * *

Some clarification on the subject of Black Hayate. This is not the same Black Hayate from 'Fullmetal Vs. Flame', which would indeed take place years from now. This is a different Black Hayate, which was described as a massive dog, while our furry little friend is a bit of a medium sized to smallish dog. I like Black Hayate.

-T A


	14. Nightmares

**Heir to the Flame**

**Chapter 14: Nightmares**

Roy tossed and turned in his sleep at Maes's house, asleep but unfitfully. Riza watched as he turned onto his back, scrabbled at something, then groaned like he was in pain. He turned onto his stomach and curled into a ball, and Riza reached out a hand and touched his shoulder.

He cried out and jerked away violently, saying something that she couldn't understand. Then he gasped suddenly and woke up, panting and sweating heavily. Riza moved closer to him and touched his face. "What's wrong?" she asked, and he lookeddownwards and put his face in his hands.

"Ishbal," he whispered, hands stillcovering his face and Riza hugged him sympathetically. Ishbal had done muchmore damage to him than to her, she knew that. But at Ishbal... theyhad both lost something there.

"Anything in particular about it, Roy?" she whispered in his ear, trying tomake him talk so he would feel better. She rested her chin on his shoulder and he shuddered. "Roy, what's bothering you so much?" she asked.

"James," he said with great effort. His shoulders shook and he buried his face farther, if possible, into his hands. "I lostJames, Riza... I couldn't protect him..." Tears clouded Riza's sight and shehugged him harder from behind. "It wasn't... Roy..."

"I lost my own son; how could I ever forgive myself for it? I could have... I could have..." he broke down again and Riza cried with him.

It had happened in the earlystage of the Ishbal War, Officer Riza Hawkeyewas pregnant. Roy had sheltered her, protected her,and supported her until she gave birth to a boy nine months later: They named himJames Mustang.

Roy had only been aMajor in the army, carted off to war at the young age of nineteen, and Riza likewise, and James was born on a battlefield. A year passed in the Ishbal War, a year passed without sufficient breakfor Royto safely remove James from the battlefield completely. Then there was finally a gap.

The fire had ceased for a good while and Roy snuck out at midnight from hisbarracks in the Amestrisbasewith one year old James in his arms. All had gone well and he could see the border of Amestris and Ishbal in sight. He sighed with relief; James would be safe now.

That was when he heard a shot from behind him and felt his leg blaze with a piercing pain. He cried out and fell down, trying to get up on one arm and drag the rest of him to the border. James was crying from the jolt of falling down, holding onto him tightly and wailing. Roy gritted his teeth and got up on one leg and his two good arms trying to quiet James and tell him everything was alright when it really wasn't.

He heard a cry and looked behind him. His face paled and a mob of Ishbalans were on him, kicking and punching. He groaned and quickly balled up around James, and his son whimpered softly. Finally his strength gave out on him and James was pulled from his arms, he had no strength to resist, just dragged himself forward bleeding mess that he was, trying to catch up while James screamed for him, over and over and over again.

Then he blacked out.

When he woke up Riza was sitting over him sobbing, demanding to know what had happened. He looked away and acough wracked his entire body. He wouldn't speak to her, couldn't speak to her, and Riza realized slowly, what had happened.

Then she had left him and they had grown apart for five odd years. Both of them were unable to cope, both were unwilling to talk to the other about it, so they had drifted apart. They had been that way until Riza was once again stationed under Roy's command in Central Command and the old spark was reignited.

But Roy never could forget about James, and neither could Riza. He laid his head on her swollen belly, now close to seven months, and closed his eyes. Riza lay back and stroked his hair, asking what he was doing. He smiled and said without opening his eyes, "I'm listening to his heart. And yours. And I promise I won't let anything happen to him, ever."

She nodded and continued to stroke his hair. She wasn't exactly sure why she had left him in the first place. She thought it was because she was just too distraught over the loss of her baby, and that the thought that his own father had lost him just angered her. But she had realized later that she probably could not have done any better. She had realized it eventually, when she was too far away from Roy to apologize or make up to. It had been a stroke of luck that she was placed under his command again, and she had to admit that it was even harder to resist him as a handsome twenty-five year old than it had been when he was a self-assured but somewhat awkward nineteenyear old. She couldn't help it, she just fell right back for him.

And here she was, the two of them twenty-six years old and she was pregnant again. She wondered if she was making a mistake by getting pregnant again, no marriage, no baby-showers forthcoming because their baby had to be a secret. There would be nothing but secrecy until the law of fraternization was abolished.

And the best way to do that was to push Roy to become Fuhrer.

* * *

Another chapter guys, have fun. As for my periods of updation, it is extremely hard to update during the week, and I have um... parentely-predetermined weekend activities, so I don't know how much time I get every week to actually write. I do it in bits and pieces and I'm going as fast as I possibly can. Except for the one hour I break in and play Ratchet:Deadlocked.

-T A


	15. Scar?

**HEIR TO THE FLAME**

Chapter 15: Scar?

Maes Hughes twiddled his fingers irritibly and Roy put his hand on his childhood friend's shoulder comfortingly. "It'll be alright, Maes, don't get so worked up!" Maes muttered something at Roy, and Roy noted that he had never seen Maes in such an agitated mood as he was in now. Agitated and anxious.

"You think Gracie will be okay in there?" Maes asked him, peeking into the room where Gracia was resting peacefully for the moment. He wasn't sure exactly what he'd do when the baby... came, but he sure wasn't going to stand out here.

Roy smirked at him and his eyes lit up; Maes became wary as he had grown accustomed to Roy's more subtle facial features. This one looked rogueish, and whenever it looked that way it usually ended in a slap from Riza or Maes getting thrown brutally out of the window by some random passers-by.

Instead, Roy pushed a camera into Maes's hand.

"Snap away, Maes!"

Maes looked from the camera to Roy, then did a double take. "I can't believe you're actually asking me to take pictures. It's a miracle." Roy smiled a little broader and Maes suddenly grabbed him by the collar.

"WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT'VE YOU DONE WITH ROY?" he yelled, shaking Roy until Roy's brains turned to mush inside his head. Roy pushed him roughly and regained his balance once the room stopped spinning. "I get you a camera and this is the thanks I get?"

"I still don't think you're Roy. You're some alien who kidnapped Roy and is vivisecting him at his very moment, poor Roy!" Roy furrowed his brows. "Alien? Vivisecting? Lay off the sci-fi shows, will you Maes? And by the way, have you seen Havoc around?" Maes looked thoughtful.

"I dunno, haven't seen him in a while. He's probably been at home all this time getting it on with his wife..."

"She's pregnant, you idiot!"

"Oh, yeah. Well, there goes that idea..."

"I hope Riza's alright..."

"Aw come on, she can survive without you for a few hours, lighten up!"

"But she's all alone..."

"I know, I know, but she's got Black Hayate with her, remember? That big guy will rip the throat out of anyone that comes within ten steps of her that's not you, me, or Gracie."

"...I guess you're right, Maes... but I just can't help it..."

"You know, Roy, you've got your whole life in front of you. Anything planned?"

"I am not... sure. There's always trying to become Fuhrer, but that'll take a while... maybe I'll have a few more kids... I like kids." Roy sighed and Maes looked thoughtful. "How many more?" he asked, and Roy thought for a minute.

"Maybe two more... another boy and a little girl maybe. I've always wanted a girl..."

"Well you picked the right woman to have a girl with; there's no way she'll be ugly, that's for sure."

Roy smiled and rested his chin on his hand, staring into nothing. "Yeah... Riza's beautiful..." Maes was trying to restrain himself: Up to now he had never heard Roy say any woman was beautiful with feeling. He patted Roy's back and Roy glared at him. "What?"

"Oh nothing. Listen, why don'tyou just run home to her, eh? I figure I can handle Gracia and the baby myself." Roy looked at him awkwardly. "Maes..."

"It's alright, I think I can handle myself without you watching my back!"

Roy got up and nodded, brushing invisible dirt off of his pants. "Okay... I'll go home then. Call me when the baby's born, alright?"

This was why Roy was walking down the street headed for home when a little boy bumped into him. The boy gasped and backed up, muttering a hasty, 'Sorry Sir...' and walking quickly away with a package in his hands. Roy noticed that his skin was brown, though he had not seen the eyes; the accent sounded a tad Ishbalan... the boy turned into an alley and was quickly accosted by three thugs who tore the package from his hands and commenced beating him.

Roy turned and stared for a minute before quickly deciding his plan of action. Putting down his coat and the groceries Riza had requested that he pick up, he pulled on one glove and snapped, sending the thugs scurrying away. The boy was crying, rubbing at his eyes and looking around for the package that he had been carrying, and Roy picked it up and handed it to him.

"You should be more careful with this, especially here in Amestris. What is it anyway?" The boy looked at him fearfully before grudgingly parting with the information. "It is... medicine, Sir..."

"Now now, no more of this 'Sir' business. My name is Roy, what's yours?"

The boy scrubbed at his eyes one more time. "Joaquin..."

"Alright Joaquin, let's get that medicine to where it's supposed to be."

"But... it's for... Ishbalans..."

Roy thought for a minute and then sighed. "It doesn't matter, if they need it they should have it."

"You promise not to tell anyone where they are?"

"I promise, and if you want more... I swear on the life of my wife and child that I won't tell a soul." He held the pendant around his neck while he said it, and it was enough for Joaquin. He jumped onto his feet and ran down into the alleyway as Roy followed behind. He dropped into a manhole and Roy stopped. Joaquin poked his head back up and grinned. "C'mon, they're down here!" he called.

Roy followed him down again and stared at the Ishbalans who were forced to live underground in the sewers. His throat lumped and he couldn't help but think that it was his fault that they were suffering this way. Some Ishbalans cried out and scurried away, picking up tents, food, and children, but there was one man who didn't move, who's red eyes bored into Roy's.

Though Roy wouldn't realize the danger for years to come, he was face to face with Scar.


	16. Automail Shoulder

**Heir to the Flame**

**Chapter 16: Automail Shoulder**

Riza was into her eighth and a half month of her pregnancy, looking plumper, having strange cravings, moodswings, and pining for Roy twenty-four-seven.

Which was what she was doing right now, pining for Roy.

She was stroking Hayate behind his ears, trying not to let her anxiety show. What did they call it nowadays? Seperation Anxiety? Roy had been gone for _hours, _her mind was flitting through a large store of worst-case scenarios. He could have been Roynapped, he could have finally been assassinated, someone was holding him hostage... she was biting her fingernail and the craving for an apple suddenly hit her in the face. She sat up in bed and put her feet down on the floor. Her ankles were quite swollen and she was finding it increasingly hard to walk around by herself. Black Hayate barked loudly and got up from his position near her feet. She managed to get past the mirror in their bedroom and she stopped for a moment, examining her belly. She sighed and stroked it. The baby must be _huge_, she thought, and she suddenly feared the pain of having to give birth to him. She shook the fear away; _Mothergave birth to twins,didn't she? If she could do that, then I can do this,_ she thought again, keeping one hand on her stomach and one hand on the stair bannister.

She was back at Roy's house for the month. Roy had insisted that the baby be born at the mansion and he would not take no for an answer. Well, he would have if she had pleaded long enough, but she really didn't mind so much. Just as long as there was someone there to help her give birth.

She was glad Roy had also insisted on moving their bedroom to only one floor above the ground floor, which was a drastic change in altitude from the uppermost tenth floor, whose walls were composed almost entirely of crystal and diamond. Roy was immensely proud of that top floor; it was completely alchemy-proof, meaning that no one could transmute it into smaller diamonds and crystals to make off with it. That had been a more recent update to the house; he and his father had made sure that every part of it was impossible to transmute, and it worked too!

She liked sitting up there sometimes, when Roy carried her up the stairs. She would just sit and appreciate the view of East City and Central, though the mansion was located on a hill that was somewhat closer to East than Central, but not within a short walking distance of either city. She'd sit with Roy and they would just talk; making sure what they would name the baby, where his room would be, whether or not to let Maes be present when the baby was born. That camera of his sure could be irritating.

And just yesterday Roy had turned the talk to Ishbalans. He said that he had run into an Ishbalan boy who was taking medicine to other Ishbalans a couple of weeks before. He said that he had been unable to discuss it earlier because he needed to think about the things he had seen, which wasn't like Roy at all. He had helped the boy out and followed him to the other Ishbalans, but he wasn't welcomed with open arms.

That was where he had met a scarred Ishbalan, who gave no name. He said that he had recognized Roy as a State Alchemist, and that one day he would die just like all the others. But he had said that he would save Roy for last. Then Roy had turned to Riza and asked, "What do make of that?" Riza shrugged her shoulders and hugged him tightly, and he rested his chin on her head. "I won't let anything take me from you or the baby, Riza. I promise." She had looked up at him and smiled, tears in her eyes, because she was having yet another moodswing. He smiled again and stroked her back until her sobbing subsided and another mood replaced the first. "Did Gracia have her baby?" she asked, and Roy chuckled.

"I told you a few weeks ago, didn't I?" he asked. "Gracia had a baby girl; Maes named her Elysia. It's been about a month, I think. She's about a month old now. And I'm her Godfather!" Roy looked excited and pleased, but Riza didn't think he had expected anything less. He and Maes had been fast friends; they had known each other practically since birth, though Maes was about three days older than Roy. Roy then whistled and felt her belly, remarking at how big it was, then a worried expression worked it's way into his face.

"I'll be okay," Riza had murmured, but his look refused to remove itself. A big child could complicate the birth, and if the birth became complicated... he shuddered. He could lose Riza forever, and possibly his child as well. And it would be all his fault.

He wanted to be around as much as possible, and he had been. But today he was late and she was worried.

She couldn't even call East Headquarters to ask if he was alright, or if he was there or not. It would raise too much suspicion, unless... She picked up the phone and dialed Havoc's house phone number; it was about lunch time and Roy had informed her that Jean always went home for lunch these days. His wife picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hi Keira, it's Riza. Is Jean there?"

"He's coming in right now on that motorcycle of his, I swear he'll break his neck on that thing one of these days... what did you want to ask?"

"Can you ask him if Roy's at work? And if he's okay?"Keira relayed the question to Jean who answered quickly.

"He says Roy's in the infirmary; he was sparring with Major Armstrong and his arm suddenly went limp. No one's sure what's wrong with him, but Roy started to leave just as Jean left. Jean's not sure where he could be now."

"Okay, thank you Keira."

"You're welcome."

Riza hung up the phone and pondered her current situation. Roy's arm went limp? Was that possible?

She didn't know where else to call, but then the phone rang for her. She picked it up and uttered a timid hello. "Riza? Thank God you're there, it's Roy. Um, I... you think you can come see me at my uncle's house? It's near the center of East City, the big house on the right side? I know it's a little much to ask... and I'd come if I could..."

"Roy, what happened?"

"Um, oh, ah, nothing, heh heh... Armstrong just bumped me the wrong way, y'know?"

"What happened?"

"My shoulder isn't working, that's all I'll say. Now are you coming or are you staying home? I understand if you can't come..." she picked the car keys off of the loop.

"I'm coming, Roy, okay? Big house on the right side?"

"Right."

"Okay, I love you, bye."

"Love you too, bye." Riza got into the car and took a deep breath. It wouldn't be easy going from here to the center of East City. It might take only ten minutes, but she didn't thinkit wise to drive too much in her condition.

She stopped the car in front of the large house on the right side of East City Center. She was surprised to see that it was an automail shop more than a house, and the color drained out of her face. What on earth had happened? Had Armstrong seperated Roy's arm from his body completely?

She hurried in and an older man greeted her at the door. He looked a bit like Roy, not much. Just enough to be passed for a relative. The height was right, and so was the eye color, hair color, and build, but that was where all similarities stopped. He held out his hand and she extended her hand as well. A teenage boy, maybe in his fifteens or sixteens, peeked out from behind a door. "Dad! I think his shoulder's dislocated and broken; it'll be one hell of a cleanup and repair job." The man nodded back. "AlrightVergo... it would be best if we didn't tarry any longer. You'd better go in and see him, because after that we'll have to put him to sleep and start surgery," he directed the last comment to Riza.

"But what happened?" Riza asked worriedly.

"Then you don't know?" the man queried.

"No, I don't know, Mr...?"

"Glenn, Glenn Mustang. You see, my nephew has a... well, I don't know how much he'd want me to tell you, but he lost his shoulder bone in an accident. The bone that controls the arm and connects to the rest of his skeleton was too badly _damaged _and it was replaced by an automail substitute."

"But I... I never saw it..."

"That's what I'm saying; it's not the same as the run-of-the-mill automail you find nowadays, though the Rockbells are coming pretty darn close to where we are. I'd give them a few more years. It's located _inside _of his body. It was perfectly attached close to... I'd say about twelve years ago, but now he's goneand busted it, and we'll have to reopen his shoulder and fix it, not to mention remove any broken bits."

"That's dangerous isn't it? A foreign substance in the body?"

"It is, if it's broken. Then the little parts will get into his bloodstream and it could become fatal, but the piece as a whole was designed not to cause the body to reject it. That's why it's vital to get to it as soon as possible," Glenn stressed the 'as soon as possible'. Vergo popped back out. "I don't think we can delay any longer, Dad, I've already put him to sleep."

"Right. We'd better get started... if you could wait out here, Riza?" she nodded,thinking that Roy must have told them her name, and stroked Black Hayate some more. Glenn proceeded into the operating room and she waited. What if the damage was too bad, what if it had splintered into little bits and it was killing Roy even now? Then she wondered just how he had lost an entire shoulder bone without losing his shoulder completely, like Edward lost his entire arm and not just the bone. She would just have to ask Roy when he woke up. If he woke up.

* * *

By now you can probably tell that the baby will be born soon; but will Roy survive this automail surgery? And whoever thought that Roy might have an artificial shoulder bone? I did! Man, I need to stop eating candy before I write these things. Just for reference, I added a new story called All Eras Must End. It's about Eric Lee Elric, grandson of Edward the Fullmetal Alchemist! Roy may be dead, but he still makes a rather important appearance later in the story. As a matter of fact, so does Maes Hughes! The first, that is, because there are two Maes' now. 

-T A


	17. Glimpse of a Life

**Heir to the Flame**

**Chapter 17: Glimpse of a Life**

Riza viciously beat down another craving, this time for apple and peanut butter of all things. She hated peanut butter. Why was she thinking about food anyway? Roy was under the knife and all she could think about was food and Hayate! She was still petting Black Hayate vigorously and a stomach twinge came over her. She forced herself to take deep breaths. It was alright, it was just a false contraction, everything would be okay...

She had heard a rumor that stress often caused early births...

She shook her head and she felt another contraction, though it wasn't as bad as the first.

She took deeper breaths and Hayate whined at her, pacing to and fro on the hardwood floor of the automail establishment. She had to take her mind off of it, she had to... she looked around the 'clinic'.

There were pictures hung up, which contributed to the fact that this place was very much like the Rockbells's operation; a house turned job site. Apparently Roy's uncle Glenn lived here with his only son Vergo. This was deduced by the simple fact that there were no pictures of other children, and the fact that the mother was either dead or seperated stemmed from the observation that there was only one picture of her. Riza guessed that she had died and that there were many more pictures around, just not hung up.

She was seated on a couch and she looked next to her, startled to see an old photo album sitting there. It looked like Roy's old album... she never looked in Roy's album; she had always been meaning to ask him so they could sit down together and look at it, but being pregnant made her forget many more things than she would have liked.

She hesitantly turned the page and thought that it must be the father's album. It contained many black and white photos of a younger Glenn and what must have been his brother, Leroy. Roy's father. Her mother had always said 'If you want to know what the man will look like when he's older, look at his father.' She guessed it was true. Leroy Mustang at his prime, age thirty, looked almost identical to his son. Unfortunately, this was all that Riza would see of Leroy's 'old age', since he had never reached his thirty-first birthday. She wondered what Roy would look like in twenty years. She shook her head again. She should be thinking of now and the baby that was due. Well, it wasn't now... Riza thought again as her stomach pained her again.

She didn't know how long she had been sitting there, staring at pictures in black and white that abruptly turned to color; Glenn, his son, and his wife on a family vacation, Glenn and his brother out for a night on the town, there was even one of an infant Roy. She smiled and traced the borders of the picture gently with her finger. Now she knew what her baby would look like. Little Roy and little Maes wrestling, and over a camera no less. In the next picture, little Jean Havoc had stolen it away and the other two, bruised up, ran after him.

The next one was Jean in a tree throwing spiky pine cones at Roy and Maes while sticking out his tongue, the camera hung safely around his neck by a strap. Roy and Maes were running away, their hands around their heads for protection. The next picture was Roy with his father's oversized flame gloves burning pine cones and the branch that Jean was perched on while Leroy chuckled to himself in the background and Maes held his hands out to safely catch the camera when it fell, Jean and all.

She laughed to herself and Hayate rested his great head on her thigh, sighing deeply and twitching one ear. She scratched it and he sighed even more deeply. She swore that when Roy came out she'd kiss him so hard his face would blow up from the heat. Okay, maybe not that much, but the equivalent without blowing up his face.

Vergo came out with a surgical mask, apron and gloves on. His apron and gloves were stained with blood and he pulled the mask down and sighed. "It's finished now; we just sewed him back up. It wasn't very bad... that Major Armstrong snapped it clean in two and dislocated it from the bone. Dad managed to take it out, transmute it back to normal, and fix it back into it's original place on the bone. I don't think it'll break for a long while yet. We made some adjustments so it's stronger and more durable than before. You'd better remind him not to use his right arm too much for the time being though, he may not find it comfortable yet."

Riza nodded, standing up and asking if she could see him. He shrugged. "I'll go ask Dad. I have to see if he's finished cleaning him off first, and if my cousin's got enough anesthetic in him to keep him from screaming himself to death as soon as he wakes up."

Glenn poked his head out. "He's all set; he should be waking up in twenty minutes, give or take."

"I hope it's take," Riza said, waddling over to the room. Roy had been moved to a bed and there were machines hooked up to him to check his vitals. Riza had never seen anything like them before.Vergo smiled, obviously pleased at her curiousity. "Dad's a bit of a technology whiz, he's been able to do some pretty amazing stuff with automail and machinery. He even made his own legs, put them on himself too. I hope I can be as good as him someday..." Vergo looked wistful, then pulled himself back to reality. "Oh! It seems he's coming around already." Roy groaned pitifully and Riza stroked his hair. "It's okay, Roy, you're still alive..." Roy groaned again. "I could've sworn I saw Dad at the end of the tunnel..." he muttered, opening his eyes groggily. He inspected his right shoulder. It looked normal enough, even if it was sewn up and a bit bloody. He felt the urge to move it but Riza stilled his hand which he couldn't feel anyway because of the anesthetic. She kissed his brow and he grinned. "I won't be able to spar with Armstrong for a while..." She closed her eyes and Roy thought that he might have said the wrong thing.

He knew for sure when he heard a loud smack and his head was flung into the headboard. He whimpered and another one flew his way, making his head smack again into the headboard. He hunkered down in the bed and whimpered again, waiting for another blow to the cheek. Riza sighed and gently fingered the red marks on his cheek, and he winced. She massaged his cheek and he hoped that that meant his punishment; or the hand-to-cheek part of it anyway, was over. There were tears in her eyes and she buried her face into his chest. "I was worried about you!" she cried. "And you're talking like it was no big deal, when you could have lost your arm, or you could have died!" She was hitting with her fists, but they were little flails of frustrated sadness. It was like a small child was hitting him. Roy put his one good arm, his left, around her. "I'm sorry... I just... thought it would make you feel better, but it didn't... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." She looked at him again and sniffed. "Don't do it again, okay?" she asked, sounding small.

"I'll try not to," he replied, and they laid there for a few minutes.

"Roy," she whispered.

"Hmm?"

"I was scared I was going to lose you... I was scared my baby wouldn't have his daddy."

"You don't need to be scared anymore."

"But I still am."

"... well... I'm not sure what to say, I'm not sure what would make you feel better, but... I'm going to be around for my son. And my wife."

She smiled again and bit her lip in pain. "What is it?" he asked, sounding concerned. "I-I don't know... I'm having contractions... but they're not bad..."

"Do you think it's time?"

"No, not yet..."

Roy got up from the bed and allowed his uncle to dress his right arm in a sling. "I'll drive us home then, just in case. I need some sleep anyway, we both do." He took the medicine Vergo instructed him to take every three hours and thanked his uncle for the short-notice operation. "You're a life-saver," he said, waving good-bye with his left arm. Riza looked at him, then at the car, and back at him worriedly. "Will you be able to drive?" she asked, not feeling entirely safe. Black Hayate jumped into the backseat without a problem and Roy gave her a reassuring smile.

"What? The arm? Don't sweat it. Between you and me, I'm probably the better one to drive.Who knows when those contractions will hit? I've heard they're pretty painful."

"They are," Riza said rather frostily, and Roy thought she was having another moodswing.

"Haven't I ever told you? I happen to be ambidextrous!" he said proudly. "It's a good trait to have when your life relies on the snap of a finger."

* * *

Aye, more clarification. Roy's automail is not exactly for his entire shoulder, but for the bone that makes sure the shoulder works. Glenn's prosthetic for it is basically an auto-bone that's a replacement for the bone that Roy lost. How he lost it, you'll find out later, mwahahahah! On a note, the baby will probably be born in two chapters, maybe three, so hang tight. The story does by no means end after the baby is born! 

-T A


	18. Photographs II

**Heir to the Flame**

**Chapter 18: Photographs II**

"Yes? Yes, I think it could be early... how fast do you think you can get here? Within the hour? Good. Okay, I'll see you then. Bye Mom." Roy hung up the phone and glanced at Riza, who was sleeping peacefully on the bed, Black Hayate at her feet. He couldn't help but think that this must be the peace before the storm, couldn't shake of the feeling that he would have a son to hold in his arms much sooner than expected.

Not that he wasn't prepared. He had at least a room stuffed full of baby items, so that was no problem. It then occured to him that he and Riza had never really discussed the actual birth of the baby. What would he do? What did Riza want him to do? Stand outside? Or be there next to her? He decided on the latter, though he grimaced when he thought of her screaming in pain. He didn't want to hear her in pain, but he would if she wanted him next to her.

He would certainly feel better if it was his mother who actually helped Riza deliver the baby. He had no idea what to do, not the foggiest, and he had given Maes permission to come on the grounds that he took pictures only after the baby was born, not a second before, and to please limit his photos to one roll of film. Maes had been ecstatic at the early invitation. Now his Elysia would have someone to play with! Roy sighed, hoping that Elysia wouldn't grow up to be half as smothering as her father. Then again, Maes hadn't always been this way, and Roy wasn't sure which side of Maes he liked better.

He shrugged one shoulder out of habit now, since his right was no good at the moment. He supposed that he liked 'SuperDad' better, although before it had been 'SuperMatchMakerForRoy', so it didn't make much difference. Maes was Maes and he was fine with his friend. You just couldn't get mad at the guy you were practically _born _with.

He sat down on the bed next to Riza and stroked her hair, smiling as he noticed that she had gotten a bit plump. He hadn't noticed at first; he saw Riza every day and there didn't seem to be change day by day, but now that he thought about it... she looked cute, he thought, a little more cute than beautiful. Either one he didn't mind though. Maes obviously had preference over the cute category rather than the beautiful, but Roy didn't really take sides. Riza could be both when she wanted to be.

Her eyes opened slowly and she smiled at him. "And what does Miss Mommy want, eh? Your wish is my command," Roy joked, widening Riza's smile. "Can we look at a photo album?"

Roy looked surprised. "Now why would you want to look at something like that?" he asked as he opened a drawer and pulled out a thick leather-bound album. The leather was cracked in places and soft in others from use, but Roy didn't want to take the cover off and buy a new one. It had the authentic feel to it.

He sat down next to her again and laid the book on his lap, scooting next to her so she wouldn't have to crane her neck to see. "This one is back before I was born, when my parents were dating before Mom joined the military. Dad was already a State Alchemist, and Mom's dad signed her up for the Alchemy exam when she turned fourteen. I beat both of their records; I passed the exam when I was thirteen. It turns out that there's an alchemist now who's only twelve; got him to beat my own record."

"You're talking about Edward Elric?"

"Yup. He's a feisty little kid, kind of a midget though... reminds me a bit of myself when I was little. Without the midget of course. I was always taller than everyone else, that is, until Maes and Jean started shooting up. So I guess I'm the short one out of the three of us!

"This one is when I was born; you can see Dad hiding under the table over there," he pointed to a table which Leroy was cowering under. "And you can see Mom giving him a nasty look too, it's hilarious! Maes's dad said that as soon as my mom went into labor, Dad went straight for the table and didn't come out until after I was born."

"That's a bit cruel, isn't it?"

"You have to keep in mind that my father wasn't exactly the age we are now... I was born when my father was... fifteen... close to sixteen I think. They were both really young. He was scared out of his wits, and Mr.Hughes can't talk because he did almost the exact same thing when Maes was born. Only, he passed out."

Riza laughed out loud. "You'd think it would be the women passing out from the strain, but no..."

"It's the men that pass out!" Roy laughed with her. "I promise I'll try my hardest not to pass out though," he said, winking at her.

"This is when I met Maes for the first time. I didn't really meet him... I mean, I was hardly alive for four hours, and Maes was three days old. Dad just couldn't resist gloating though." A picture of Maes and Roy looking like thoroughly disgruntled newborns, which was what they were. Who would appreciate having a camera in their face when they were three days and four hours old respectively? Riza giggled at the look on baby Roy's face. "You still look the same," she giggled, and Roy gave her a look. "Um, last time I checked I was roughlyfive feet taller than when I was a baby."

"I mean the expression! It's the same expression you have when Maes starts shoving pictures of Gracia that you've seen four million times in your face!"

"Guess old habits die hard.

"This one is when Maes and I met Jean for the first time, when we were about a year old. Jean was a regular stand up comedian back then, but we sure didn't appreciate it."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, the first time we went to say hi, we fell into his hidden mud pit and he dumped three day old custard on us. Then he snapped a picture!" Roy still fumed over it; he had still failed to pay Jean back for it. "That's pretty advanced for a one year old."

"You wouldn't believe all the stuff this guy had; his old man worked in stealth and capture operations, so it figures that he'd teach his son how to catch things and keep hidden before he actually knew how to say Daddy and Mommy. My dad was like that too.

"He taught me about alchemy before I even started crawling. He taught me how it was done, not what happened in order to make it happen, so I could use alchemy without actually knowing what I was doing. Mom disapproved at first, but she's as much of an alchemy-maniac as he was. You could say I was a bit of a prodigy by the time I was six...

"Dad used to take me to all sorts of fairs where combatants face off with alchemy. He entered me in the adult competition one year since there wasn't a Junior division, and I got to third place!"

"Who beat you out of second and first?"

"My dad and my uncle of course," Roy sighed. "They were uber-strong. I had the misfortune of going up against my dad in the semi-finals. I'll just say he payed me back for all of my little pranks, ten-fold. My butt still burns just thinking about it... I mean, my mom even videotaped it! It's humiliating! Not to mention that she played it for Maes and Jean's satisfaction when we came back," Roy muttered darkly.

"And look at me now..." he murmured softly to himself. "I'm a daddy, and I've got a wife, friends, a pretty well paying job, a mansion... never would've thought I'd have all of this after Dad died."

"Why? You must have been upset..." she was sympathetic.

"Yeah... I kind of... gave up after he died. That was until Jean and Maes beat the hell out me for getting depressed. And needless to say..." his left arm reached up to touch his right shoulder. "How did you lose it?"

"Have you ever watched me fight, Riza?" She looked at him like he was crazy. "Yes, when you were fighting in the Ishbal War..."

"Have you watched other alchemists fight?"

"Yes."

"Can you think of anything... different?"

Riza thought for a while and Roy stared at his one gloved hand, or more accurately, the transmutation circle on the glove. "I... I've never seen that circle glow... maybe once or twice... and other alchemist's circles..."

"Fullmetal and I are more alike than he thinks... he thinks he's the only one... who's lost something, and tried to get it back..."

"But then..."

"I've... tried human transmutation... I tried to brind my father back to life... but it... didn't work...

"I lost my shoulder bone as a result. When I woke up again, I couldn't move my arm, I almost died from the pain. My uncle found me in the basement of the mansion, he had a replacement fixed and put into my arm. No one could tell the difference. I'm not sure what he did... with that... that thing..."

"So you are like Edward... you don't need the circles... but you never told anyone?"

"No... I just kept the circle on my glove as a decoy."

"Then you don't need the gloves at all?"

"As long as I can make sparks... but I don't know... sometimes there are times when I _need _the circle to transmute. It's an on and off sort of thing, I haven't figured out why it does that."

The doorbell rang and Roy ran to answer it. Ilia stood in the doorway, a large bag in hand. "I'm ready, what about her?"


	19. Birth

**Heir to the Flame**

**Chapter 19:**

Riza was starting to panic.

It was slow going at first, lying in bed waiting expectantly, just a bit afraid, for the pains to start. Roy had gone to sleep, chin sunk down on his chest, his mother at the desk near by just nodding off to sleep. And here she was, wide awake, and she wasn't even the slightest bit sleepy. Something was up alright. Black Hayate was nervous as well, pacing back and forth and she let another quiver of expectance shake her.

Then it came, a slow contraction, slow and sharp, and she whimpered.

Roy's eyes were open almost immediately. "Mom." Ilia didn't stir.

"Mom!" he hissed a bit more urgently. She gave a snort in her sleep but showed no signs of moving.

Not wanting to move himself from his position next to Riza, he picked up a pamphlet about babies, motherhood, and contraception and threw it at her head. She bolted upright and shot a look at him. "Mom, hurry up!"

They were coming faster now and Ilia pulled the blankets away, handing them to Roy. "Go get some smaller ones, Roy, go on! And some towels while you're at it. Go on! Move!" Roy hurried away to locate towels and blankets.

"Sssh... it's alright, don't panic... it's okay..." Ilia murmured as she stroked Riza's hair away from her face. "Just try to relax... I know it may seem hard, but you can do it. Ssssh..."

Roy was right outside the door of another room, towels and blankets in hand, when a scream ripped his ears apart. He jumped into the air and dropped the items he was carrying on the floor. Then he heard a banging on the front door and he ran to answer that after picking up what he had dropped in the first place. "Maes!"

"Hey! You called and I came, a.s.a.p! Jean's right behind me as well!" Another scream made Jean and Maes jump as well and Roy turned on his heel. "Gotta get to Riza, gotta get to Riza!" Maes and Jean exchanged glances and followed Roy.

He was outside the door of their bedroom when Riza screamed again, and he gritted his teeth, debating on whether he had the nerve to go inside or not. His nerves won out and he ran inside, leaving Maes and Jean to exchange another worried look and wait outside. He went inside and ducked just as an expensive breakable object came hurtling towards his head, smashing on the door. He stayed back a bit, just a bit, and heard Riza cursing his very existance and that damning fact that he had gotten her pregnant in the first place. Roy knew she'd take it back later... wouldn't she? He put his items down and went next to her, jolting a bit as she grabbed onto his arm, pushing her nails into his skin painfully hard.

Tears were streaming down her face and he wiped them away, a bit detached. His brain was doing flips and cartwheels. What was he supposed to do anyway? What could he do? He just held her close, letting her scream her lungs out into his chest. What else could he do? He didn't want her to be in pain, but he couldn't do anything about that either. He had never felt worse in his life, never felt more useless. He felt even more useless than when he was in the rain: a wet match.

It seemed as if it took hours; hours of Riza crying and screaming, whimpering and pushing, hours of his mother trying to help Riza, and hours of him standing there next to her waiting for his child to be born.

And then it was over, she gave one last cry and slumped against Roy, and Roy became aware that it was quiet. Very. Quiet.

And he didn't like it.

Ilia was examining the baby in her arms carefully and he looked at her expectantly. "Well, other than the fact that he's very quiet... he seems fine. He's like you I suppose; I didn't get one peep out of you until your father patted you on the head."

Roy sulked. "I don't like being patted on the head. And I got a boy?"

"Yes, silly, didn't you go to get the reports when she was halfway anyway?"

"Well they're not 100 percent accurate..."

"We'll let him see his mommy first, before he gets the notion that I'm mommy," she laughed, giving the bundled up baby to Riza. She was quiet already, she seemed to have forgotten the pain of just a few minutes before. Almost.She looked the baby over, satisfied, and sighed loudly, happily. Eight and a half months of trial and trouble over with. "He already has hair... and he's early!"

Ilia shuddered. "I don't want to think of how big he'd be if he'd stayed the whole nine months."

Roy looked over her shoulder and grinned proudly. "My little Roy Junior. Hehe..."

He stroked his son's hair and the baby whined, his little eyes tightly shut and his tiny arms swinging. "Can I hold him, Riza?"

Riza looked at her newborn and handed him over to Roy reluctantly. "Don't drop him, or handle him too roughly, or... or..."

"I won't... I won't..." Roy held him for a minute, then suddenly felt very tired. He didn't want to do anything but go to sleep. Then Maes snapped pictures. He groaned and looked up tiredly. "Maes... stoppit..."

"No way! I'm not going to miss the one chance I get to see you exhume an air of affection to something other than a woman! I'm gonna get it on camera! Mwahahahahaaa! Do you think he'll be a good playmate for Elysia, Roy?"

Roy groaned again. "He was just born, and you're already asking if he can play...?"

"What? Our dad's did it to us, and we're pretty close, aren't we?"

Roy fingers twitched. "I dunno Maes... you're still a hairs breadth away from disentegrating on the spot where you stand..."

"That's means we're closer than close! Violence always says so!" Maes sang, and Roy had a horrible urge to bite, kick, scream at, and incinerate something all at once. Maes's face fell. "Awww... I ran out of film... I'm saving a picture so that I can get one when he opens his eyes!"

Roy Junior whined again and opened one eye slowly. Roy sighed. "Speak of the devil... you'll get your picture sooner than you thought, Maes..." Jean was conserving camera film, unlike Maes, and had been taking shots when Roy wasn't talking or looking at him. Roy Junior opened his eyes and Roy inspected them. "Oh, he's got my eyes... that's my boy all right... Color, shape, hair, everything looks like me... perfect. I wanted him to look just a tiny bit like Riza..."

Riza took the baby from him and shooed them all out of the room so she could feed him. When Roy went back in half an hour later, they were fast asleep. He smiled. One less thing to worry about. Now there was the problem of work.

* * *

For starters, the story is not ending! That is, unless you're dog-tired of this story in whichcase I could always stop. And I've gotten 300 reviews! 300! Alright! Thank you, thank you, I love my public. 

Drop reviews if you want this to continue, drop reviews if you don't want it to continue, although I think I can guess what the popular vote will be.

-T A


	20. Naming Contest

**_Heir to the Flame_**

**_Chapter 20: Naming Contest _**

**_Six months later_**

Roy was sleeping on his back, his little son sleeping on his chest, his chest rising slowly up and down. Riza peeked into the room and smiled, pushing the door open all the way. Roy Junior opened his small eyes and squirmed on Roy's chest, whining and scrabbling around, and Roy grunted, opened one eye, and glanced at Riza.

"Figures he would start squirming when you're around," he murmured, lifting the baby off of his chest and giving him to Riza."And what were you doing?" she asked. "Father-Son bonding time?" she asked, nursing the baby.

"You could say that," Roy yawned, stretching out on the bed. "I heard Fullmetal is back in town today... Guess that means I have to see his report. Are you coming to work?"

"No... your mother says I'm not quite ready to get back to work."

"Ah yeah... I forgot. Can I take Junior to work with me?" he asked.

"He's not a toy, Roy!"

"I know! But if you come to work and at the same time I'm bringing a kid to work, they'll get suspicious, you know?"

"Oh... I... guess so..." she said reluctantly, looking down at the baby on her breast. She didn't want to let him go, but in this case... "You go get ready... I'll give him to you after that."

Roy nodded and headed towards the shower, but stopped in the doorway. "Riza."

She looked up from the baby. "Yes?"

"I know you don't... want to let him go... but I..." he wasn't very sure how he could put this in words. "I know you want to keep him, and I'm not trying to... distance him or anything, okay? Uuumm... yeah, that's all I wanted to say." He ducked back into the bathroom. It wasn't a very good explanation, but how could you explain a feeling?

She laughed softly to herself and laid back on the bed with her baby. Men. "Just can't express their feelings..." Junior squirmed again and she lifted him up into the air. "And what do you want, hmmm?" She put him down on the bed where Roy had been lying a few minutes before and the baby's hand went under the pillow and retrieved something.

A glove.

"What! Roy!"

"Yeah?" he called from the shower.

"Do you wear your gloves to bed?"

"Sometimes, if I forget. Most of the time they go-"

"Under the pillow?"

"Yep, how'd you know that?"

"I didn't, Junior does though..."

Roy yelped from the bathroom and bolted out, a towel around his waist, saw his son with a flame glove, and jumped into action. He took the glove from his son, which was the obvious thing to do, but he didn't expect Junior's reaction. Roy Junior started to cry!

From Roy's memory, Junior hadn't cried since the day he was born, and this was certainly something that was new to him. From Riza's memory, however, Junior cried when he wanted something. Usually to be fed because he would whine constantly if he wanted to be changed. These two things usually occured when Roy was at work, so... she picked him up and tried to feed him, but he refused and kept crying.

After a while she became frustrated and wanted to cry as well. Why couldn't she figure out what was wrong? Roy, however, seemed to have and was smiling, propping his elbow on the bed, chin in his hand. "How long are you going to cry, Junior?" He wiped some tears out of the baby's eyes and Junior hiccuped, having cried himself out. Then he reached his little arms out for the gloves. Roy feigned surprise. "What? You wanted these?" he teased, holding them in front of Junior, but just out of reach. Junior reached a little further and Roy let him have them.

The baby cooed and played with them happily. "Just as long as he doesn't set fire to something..." Roy sighed. He kissed Junior's forehead and the baby giggled, touching his face with his hands. The phone started to ring and Roy stared at it. After the third ring he decided it must be serious and picked up to hear a breathless Jean.

"Keira gave birth a while ago and I've been meaning to tell you...! It's a girl, and she's okay, and Keira's okay, and... and..."

"Whoa, whoa, calm down, Jean. Have you called Maes yet?"

"Are you kidding? I'm not calling him for another hour or so, I want some time for myself. She's, she's... aaawww... she's so cute... looks like me though..." Jean sighed into the phone.

"Are you sure that's classified as 'cute', Jean?"

"YES! I mean, she looks a little like me, same hair, same eye color, but other than that, and the nose, she looks like her mom."

"Half a month behind Junior then, and about a year behind Elysia. Elysia's about a year old by now, isn't she?"

"Yeah, Maes'll be dragging us to the birthday party any time now."

"Well, I'll be bringing Junior to work today... I want to see a picture of your daughter, Jean, so bring one."

"Okay okay, I'll bring one. Keira wants me to go to work anyway... even if I don't want to." Jean hung up the phone and Roy looked at Riza.

"Keira and Jean had a baby girl."

"Awww... I want a baby girl next... maybe... if you want to have more..."

Roy shrugged. "We'll see how this goes first," he said, noncommitally.

"Okay... now shouldn't you be getting ready?"

He pulled off the towel and put on his clothes while Riza changed Junior, though he protested quite loudly, and put him into the baby outfit that said 'Fear the Flame' across the chest. Junior settled down, once deciding that he liked the feel of the outfit, and permitted Roy to pick him up.

"Now, change him when he starts whining; there are bottles and diapers in the pack, and if he starts to cry, feed him." Roy nodded. "But what if he starts crying for you, Riza?"

Riza hesitated and then whistled to Black Hayate. Black Hayate bounded up to her and sniffed the baby, wagging his tail and licking the baby's face. Junior giggled and petted Black Hayate's head. "Take Black Hayate with you, that should keep his attention." Roy looked at her sadly. "Okay... you'll be okay?"

She nodded slowly. "I guess so..."

"Alright. Well, it's only for a few hours, and I'll try to bring him back around lunchtime so you can see him too." He bent down and kissed her good-bye, and gave Junior to her to be kissed good-bye as well before he put the pack on his back, strapped Junior into a baby seat, and drove to work.

Roy was being extra careful on the road, not something, Jean testified, that Roy did very often. Especially when Jean happened to be in it, it was a wreck waiting to happen.

At work, Roy got odd looks from the staff at the baby in his arms. When questioned about Junior, he simply said, "Roy Junior. Isn't he cute?" and kept walking, humming a tune under his breath to keep the baby calm, Black Hayate trotting at his heels.

One of the staff pointed to Hayate, asking if that was the First Lieutenant's dog. He replied that it was; she was on maternity leave, if anyone remembered, and had requested that he take care of her dog for her. He headed straight for his office, got inside, and shut the door, heart pounding in his ears.

So far so good. Junior had been relatively quiet, content with playing with Roy's gloves. Just so long as he didn't stick them in his mouth, but Junior seemed to know better. Havoc checked in not five minutes after he did and made a beeline for the office. He showed pictures of his newly born daughter proudly, and Roy had to admit she was cute. Then he had an idea.

"Roy."

Junior looked up, more accustomed to being called 'Roy' rather than 'Junior'. Roy had to admit it was rather odd to be saying his own name aloud.

He picked up Junior and he squirmed some more. "You see him, Junior?" he pointed to Havoc. Junior looked from Roy, to Havoc, and his gaze stayed on Havoc.

"Havoc."

The baby squinted his eyes and looked back at Roy. "H-..."

"Havoc..."

"H-H...aaaa...v..o?"

"Almost, almost. Havoc. One more time, try it."

"Havo...c?"

"Yes, yes! Once more."

"Havoc?"

"Yes! Good boy!"

Junior pointed to Jean. "Havoc?" Roy nodded and Junior looked up at him, a smirk creeping onto his face. "Havoc!" Jean stared at Junior incredulously. "Look at him! He's even copied your expression, Roy! Look! He's got your smirk!" Roy leaned back in his seat, thinking of what kind of devestation he could do with his son's new found skill. An evil smirk crawled onto his face as an idea popped into his head.

"Put up a notice among my subordinates, Havoc. Tell them to all be stationed here in my office in two weeks from today."

"Two weeks from today at the same time?"

"Yep. That includes Fullmetal and Alphonse."

"If you say so..."

"Tell Fullmetal he just got a two week extension on his report."

"Yes Sir."

Two weeks later, all of Roy's subordinates were lined up in his office, wondering why on earth they were here. Junior was sitting on Roy's lap, trying to look over the desk at what was happening.

"I think you're wondering why I assembled you all here today..." There were murmurs of agreement and a rather loud one from Ed.

"I've just finished teaching Junior here how to say your names!"

"Yea, but I doubt he can actually recognize anyone. He can't be that smart, especially if he has your genes..." Ed grumbled, and Roy shot him a look. Oh, he would have his revenge, yesssss... Junior of course, didn't look up while he was being referred to as Junior.

Roy got up and put Junior on the floor, near the desk so he could support himself on it. He squatted down to his son's level. "Okay Roy, what am I?" he asked, pointing to himself.

"Daddy!"

"Good boy..."

"Any kid can recognize his parent, get it over with already!" Ed moaned, and Roy shot him a nasty look, which Junior copied and threw at Ed as well. Ed was at the end of the line. Junior had preoccupied himself with staring at Roy's gloves and Roy smiled.

"Roy."

He looked up. "Who's that?" he pointed to Breda and Junior squinted at him, studying him up and down. "Bre-da!"

The group ooohed.

Next Roy pointed to Fuery, which took Junior a bit longer. "F-F... Fue... ry? Fuery?" He looked at Roy again and Roy nodded. "Fuery," he said happily. Next was Vato, who was standing next to Havoc, which wasn't the best of positions, since they looked almost the same from a baby's perspective. Roy decided to test his son, he was already exhibiting above average intelligence, why not see how much above?

Junior scowled, looking like a very confused Roy, and Alphonse couldn't help but laugh a little while Ed just huffed and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Go on, Roy, you can do it," Roy encouraged Junior. Junior scowled again.

"F...F..." Falman also happened to be standing next to Fuery, two F's in a row. Increasingly confusing.

"Fal...Falman."

"Good, good..."

"And Havoc!"

"Good work, now, the shrimp over there," Roy grinned, pointing to Ed. Junior frowned, but it was soon replaced by a smirk. A smirk that Ed didn't like and was all to familiar with.

Then he shrugged and lifted a hand to point rather unsteadily at Al. "Kitty-san!"

Roy nodded and Junior's finger swung back to Ed, the smirk creeping back onto his face.

"BEAN!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ed screamed.


	21. Jackory Hawkeye I

**HEIR TO THE FLAME**

**CHAPTER 21: **

"Elysia's a year old now!" Maes sang, hearts popping out around his head, and Roy groaned, trying to keep his fingers under control. Junior laughed out loud and grabbed his fingers with both hands, trying to keep them still. Roy used his other hand to stroke Junior's head; five bitten fingers and a punch in the nose told him that Junior didn't like to be patted.

"When's the party, Maes..." Riza had come back to work now, under the story that she had had a miscarriage, and she was doing a good job of acting depressed. Then again, maybe she wasn't acting, Roy thought, she might just be sad that she can't have any motherly contact with Junior...

He felt sorry for her, but as soon as they got home everyday she would swipe Junior out of his arms and go cuddle with him somewhere. At the moment, Riza was standing behind Roy's chair, looking over his shoulder to see if he was doing his paperwork. It had taken a lot of work to convince Junior not to call Riza 'Momma' while they were at work, and he knew it pained her to have Junior call her 'Riza', but it was necessary. He wished that Junior looked like his mother instead of him, that way, Riza could have time with Junior.

"Next week's the party, and you're all invited! I've invited the whole office!"

Roy put his cheek in his hand. "I'm surprised you didn't invite the whole world, Maes..." he grumbled, and Riza interjected, saying that he should really finish his work. She took some paper from his desk and a few crayons she had brought from home and gave them to Junior, and the baby lay on his belly on the floor trying to draw Black Hayate, his mother's beloved dog.

Black Hayate sat on the floor patiently, his head resting on his paw, waiting for Roy Junior to finish drawing his picture. Roy wasn't expecting a work of art, but he wasn't expecting it to look like a dog either. It was passable, he supposed, as Junior held it up for his examination. Then Ed busted down the door for the second time that month, and Junior looked up again.

"Bean Nii-San!" he cried out, running over to Ed. Ed fumed inside and directed a glare over to Roy, who shrugged and looked at him innocently. "What? I can't stop him now that that's what he's identified you as. Besides, I did you a favor and told him to add 'Nii-San' on the end."

Ed sighed again and patted Junior's back, and Junior pulled away to jump on Al. "Kitty-San!"

Roy laughed at his son's antics; Junior loved to pounce on people and shout their names, and his subordinates adored the little eight month old.

Junior had already started to walk, with undying encouragement from Roy. Riza muttered darkly when he said he was going to teach Junior to walk so early, calling him a 'Baby Slave-Driver', but she later gave her permission and completely melted when Roy finally got Junior to walk without assistance. Riza was hard at work trying to increase Junior's baby vocabulary, which wasn't so hard since he soaked up words like a sponge. This meant that Roy had to be extra careful about his language when his son was near.

Eight months and he was running around already; Roy didn't think Elysia could walk steadily yet! Oh, Maes was jealous, jealous out of his mind, but how could you be jealous of Roy Junior? Maes was very fond of him, being his Godfather and all. It had been an agreement between the two of them, when they had children they would name each other the Godfathers, and Havoc was backup.

Al bent down and retrieved a kitten from his suit of armor, giving it to Roy Junior. "There, now you have your own little pet; and a kitty can finally have a good home!" he would have poked his tongue out at Ed if he had one. Junior was delighted with the little black kitten and cuddled it. Riza practically glowed behind Roy's desk but he nudged her gently and her face became expressionless again. Just to be fair, Roy decided to be expressionless as well.

"Roy, you have to take good care of that kitty, okay?"

"Kitty! From Kitty-San!" Junior seemed not to have heard him. Roy wasn't sure he was old enough to be taking care of a pet, so the responsibility would probably fall to him.

"What are you going to call the kitten?" Riza asked. Junior frowned and looked around, and Roy pouted. He listened to his mother, but not so much him. Junior shrugged. "Don't know."

"How about Belcini?" Al suggested. He had always wanted to name a cat Belcini, but his demonic older brother would never let him keep one. Junior nodded happily and the kitten meowed. Roy got up from his desk, his chair slipping back and hitting the wall. "Lunch time, Junior, let's go." Junior gave him a wrathful look. "I'm Roy!" he declared, putting his kitten down into Roy's paper tray, which was blissfully empty. Roy picked him up. "No, I'm Roy."

"You're Daddy!"

"But I'm Roy too."

"No, I'm Roy!"

"You're little Roy."

"Just Roy."

"I'm 'just Roy', you're Roy Junior."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Waaaah... no fair."

"Life's not fair, kiddo."

Roy carried him off to the mess hall, where he was greeted by Havoc and Maes.

"I thought you'd be going home for lunch, Jean?"

Jean shrugged and smiled. "Keira said she's tired, so I decided not to bother her and leave her and Luna some time for themselves. I'm going to take it slow with Luna, she'll walk when Keira says she's ready. She's so cuuuuuute... She looks like her mommy... and a bit like me, only my hair color, my eye color, and my nose, unfortunately."

"Ah, that's not so bad..."

"Hey, has anyone seen Armstrong around? I hear he got transferred here for a bit," Roy said, and Junior wiggled around in his arms. "Uncle Sparkly Teddy-Bear!" he sang, and Roy's eye twitched. "Don't ask me how he got the Teddy-Bear part, I honestly have no idea," Roy said as the others started to look at him strangely.

"He looks likea big teddy-bear!" Junior said indignantly.

"Really...?" Roy said, disbelievingly as he sat down at the table. He usually brought lunch from home now, or rather, Riza packed him lunch; he just carried it to work. He sat Junior on his lap and sighed getting a bottle of baby food. Then he excused himself and went to the bathroom, leaving Riza to put spoonfuls of food into Junior's mouth. They all took turns, but Riza took the most joy in feeding Junior. Roy came back in an old shirt and pants (they had holes in them!), and picked the spoon from Riza. Junior clamped his mouth shut and turned away, and Roy persisted in trying to feed him. "One," Riza said, and Roy looked at her strangely. He kept the bottle down and Junior quickly snatched it. "Two." He looked at her again, what on earth was the woman counting for?

As his head was turned towards her, she said, "Three," and ducked under the table. Junior cried out loudly and Roy's head swung back around just in time to have baby food thrown into his face, with a triumphant Junior still holding the bottle.

"Food on Daddy!" he said happily, and Ed suppressed a snigger. He was beginning to like the kid. Riza walked around to the other side of the table, sitting between Junior and Roy, and took out a cloth and wiped Roy's face.

"I warned you," she said, and Roy grumbled something, squinting as she wiped it out his eyes. "How come he doesn't toss it on you?" he asked, and she leaned forward near his ear. "Because I'm Mommy," she whispered, and he grunted sourly. Everyone's heads were turned the other way to watch an ensuing food fight between Armstrong, who had just appeared, and Hughes, and she kissed him quickly, but not quick enough to escape from Ed.

"_OOOOH, they're kissing!" _he howled, and Roy and Riza pulled apart, but Roy seemed to have forgotten to remove his arm from Riza's waist. She plucked it off of her and they both directed glares at Ed, which was copied by Junior, who soon became confused as to which he should copy. Jean's hand clapped down on Ed's mouth from behind. "It's a secret, dimwit, you need to keep quiet!"

Ed shrieked an indignant 'Why? The colonel's an arrogant-' before being cut off by Havoc's hand tightening against his jaw. "Becaaaaause... if the higher ups find out, they'll seperate them and God knows what'll happen to Mini-Roy over there," he said, gesturing to the helpless baby who was sitting in Roy's lap again and playing with his fingers, remarking how big they were. Roy seemed to have forgiven Junior for the babyfood, and had gone to sleep on the table. Riza sighed and poked his shoulder. "Wake up, Colonel." Roy muttered something and buried his head in his arms.

"Wake up," she said. He turned his head the other way.

"Roy, wake up," she whispered in his ear, and he groaned.

"Not with the way you work me over at night; I don't have any energy left."

Riza blushed and Jean and the others raised eyebrows at her. "Get up, there's a general heading this way!" she hissed, and Roy's head shot up out of his arms, looking around wildly. Then he stopped. "Oh, good morning, Brigadier General Grummon..." Roy saluted wearily. Junior bounced up and down on his seat.

"Grampa!" Riza picked up Junior and told him to say it quietly, and Junior lowered his voice. Grummon picked up the baby and grinned, letting Junior play with his moustache. "Well, how's my great grandson, hmmm? Oww, ow ow ow, don't pull too hard! And my little granddaughter, how are you?"

"I'm fine, Grandpa... have you seen Dad in the area?"

"Once or twice perhaps, but he looks preoccupied, like he's got something on his mind."

"I see... where did you see him?"

"Outside the park, a couple times, sometimes down near the lake."

"Okay... Roy looks like he's getting lonely, why don't you give Junior back to him?"

The general nodded, handing Junior back to a fidgety Roy. "Looks just like his father; I'd be careful around them, Riza. People might suspect."

"I know, but I said I had a miscarriage, and well... you know Roy's reputation as a womanizer..."

"Mm-hmm... it's a pretty good alibi, I'll admit, now why don't you go see your father?"

"Is he outside?"

"Last time I checked, which couldn't have been more than ten minutes ago. He can't have gone too far."

"Alright, I'll go see..."

"I wanna come, I wanna come!" Junior shrieked, jumping off of Roy's lap and onto the ground. Black Hayate quirked an ear and followed close behind the baby, and Riza lead them outside to find her father.


	22. Hawkeye Family Reunion

**HEIR TO THE FLAME**

**CHAPTER 22: Hawkeye Family Reunion**

Once they were outside, Junior wasted no time in clinging to Riza's leg and wailing, "Momma!" for attention. Riza sighed and looked around, making sure that no one was in sight, and gave in to temptation. She picked up Junior and he threw his arms around her neck, still repeating the word 'momma', and played with her hair. She just didn't want to ever let go of him, but when they were inside... the temptation to cuddle and be protective was almost overpowering.

He was still tugging at her hair and looked like he was about to move on to her earring when she found who she was looking for. She stopped and the man looked up, smiling weakly. "Elizabeth."

"Dad."

"Daddy!" Junior cried out randomly, having heard Riza say it and feeling the urge to mimic. When he didn't get a response from his mother, he turned in her arms and looked up to her face. "Momma?" He seemed more eager to be babyish around Riza than he did Roy.

Riza's father was taller than her, if not by more than a few inches, maybe even as tall as Roy, but not much taller. He had the same blonde hair, but where her eyes were brown, his were abrilliant green. He shrugged one shoulder, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"So, how are things, Elizabeth?"

"You have a grandson."

He looked surprised, and his mouth opened slightly before he closed it again. "I wasn't invited to any wedding."

"There wasn't one."

His surprise seemed to deepen, but the only way you could tell was the miniscule widening of his eyes. Junior certainly didn't catch it, but Riza did. "Surprised?"

"I thought I knew you well enough that you'd marry before you had a child."

"I would have."

"Fraternization?"

"Yes."

He seemed uncomfortable about her straightforward, icy, tone. "Elizabeth... is this still about-"

"Yes," she snapped, and Junior whimpered and buried his face into her chest, frightened by her tone. Her face softened and she stroked his hair, giving him enough courage to lift his face slightly and peek around. Black Hayate sat behind them patiently and Junior reached through the crook of her arm to touch his nose.

"I apologized already, Elizabeth."

"Maybe the apology wasn't enough."

"I think it was." He was being stubborn now, which only fed her anger.

"So you can kick me out of the house, and you think that years down the road a simple apology will make it all better?" she raged at him. Junior started to sniffle.

"I warned you of what I would do if you joined the military; I warned you Elizabeth and you paid no attention. If you think you're old enough to join the military, to play with life and death, then you have no place in my household, I told you that; you ceased being a child when you made that decision, I thought I made that clear."

"But you didn't have to... to... _abandon _me!" she cried, and Junior started to wail loudly. Her father shook his head slowly.

"I didn't abandon you, Elizabeth. Why do you think you just happened to be under the command of your grandfather? How do you think you were stationed away from all the riots?

"Who do you think let slip the suggestion that you were to be put under Mustang's command?" She gasped and jerked her head up.

"You planned it? This whole thing?"

"No, I couldn't say that I foresaw you falling in love and having a child with the man, but I knew he was trustworthy. His parents proved their trustworthiness to me, and so did he. And also... during the war... I wanted you to be sniper backup for a strong alchemist. To avoid being hurt..."

He walked closer to her and wiped the tears from Junior's cheeks, smiling still. "Children aren't meant to be abandoned; they need to be loved and cared for... Even when they do things you know are wrong, you just have to... let them find out for themselves, guide them however you can... and sometimes it's better if you don't let them know you're guiding, sometimes they can resent help, they can be cruel, and they can be stupid, but they're still children.

"You're still my daughter, still my little girl, and so I'll guide you, even when you think I'm not there." Riza looked away and Junior tugged at her hair a bit more.

"Is there a reason you came, Dad?"

"Yes, actually." He handed her a paper and she shifted Junior to one arm to take it and read it.

" 'Family reunion?'"

"Yep, back at the house. You remember where that is, don't you?"

"Up in North City, I remember. Can I bring Roy?"

"Sure you can!" he said brightly, having finally convinced his daughter that he wasn't evil. "The more the merrier! You can even bring some friends, if you want."

* * *

A week later... 

"Riza... I hate wearing suits!" Roy whined at her as she straightened his tie. He felt confined, caged, imprisoned; he hated suits! Riza sighed and brushed dust off his collar. "Stop whining and squirming or we'll never get to go!" Roy grumbled and she got out a comb, and he groaned.

"You're combing my hair too?"

"Yes."

"But why?"

"Because it'sa mess!"

"It is not!"

"How on earth do you go to work with your hair looking like that?"

"I comb it a few times..."

"Like how many strokes, three?"

"More or less."

"I just don't get it." She pushed him onto the bed and he bolted upright again, trying to get up, and she promptly sat in his lap. "Now stay still!" she muttered, running the comb through his hair at last. "B-b-b-but!"

"No buts! Just stay still."

"But!"

"What did I just say?"

He sighed for a painfully long time and kissed her neck, and she could feel her face reddening. He must have realized it as well, because he continued to kiss her up and down her neck, his arms around her. She glanced at the clock, got one of her arms loose, and smacked him in the head.

"Ow!"

"Get off, it's almost time to go!"

"But..."

She waved afinger at him threateningly and he let her go with another painfully long sigh. She got up and went to the mirror to examine herself in her blue halter top dress, when she gasped and her hands clapped down on her neck.

"Roy Mustang!"

"Yes?"

"You-you-... come here and look!"

He came in hesitantly, wondering what he was in for this time. He looked at her neck and Riza lifted up her hands.

"Oh, um... woops?"

"'Woops'? That's all you can say for yourself?"

"Pretty much..."

"Oooh! How am I supposed to go to the reunion when I have a... a... hickie on my neck?"

"Hmmm... say it was a bug bite?"

She glared at him. "Hey! That's what you get for sitting on my lap to comb my hair!" Junior stumbled into the room with Black Hayate close on his heels. Black Hayate had become a self-appointed guardian, never letting the baby of the household go where Hayate didn't think it safe, and picking him back up by the collar when he fell.

"Momma!" She bent down and picked him up, and he pressed his face against hers contentedly. His eyes went down her neck and focused on the red mark on her neck. "What's that?" he asked, looking up into her eyes.

"Bug bite," Roy said, and Junior shifted his attentions to him, reaching out his arms to Roy. Roy lifted him up into the air and grinned. "Now what does the little guy want, eh?" Junior squirmed.

"Hungry!"

"You're hungry? But I just gave you dinner ten minutes ago!" It had been some vegetable and beef stew; something that Riza had made three days ago, but was left over.

"... I fed it to Buraha..."

"Roy!" Riza said scoldingly, and Junior slouched. "I didn't like it..."

"You have to eat what's put in front of you! And you won't be getting a thing to eat until we get to the party."

"But it'll take a long time..."

"Then that's your punishment," Riza finished, taking Junior from Roy and heading down the stairs. Roy sighed and shrugged, petted Black Hayate, and followed Riza down the stairs.

In the car, Riza was still furious over... 'the incident'. She was still rubbing her neck in the hopes that it would disappear, and Roy sighed again. Honestly, what could she have expected, sitting in his lap like that? Sheesh, give a man a break.

A thoroughly hungry Junior squirmed in the backseat again, once again announcing that he was hungry from beside Black Hayate. After about an hour in the car, Riza had stopped rubbing her neck so hard and Junior had fallen asleep, while Roy kept his eyes glued to the road. His eyes felt raw and he wanted to just close them and go to sleep, but with his son and his 'wife' in the car... sleep would just have to wait. He took one hand off the steering wheel and rubbed his left eye with the heel of hand, and Riza looked at him sympathetically. "Do you want to stop and rest, Roy? The party doesn't start for a long time..."

"That'd be lovely... but where can I stop?"

"We could check in to a hotel."

"Sounds good, there's one right here..."

They stopped, found a vacancy, and checked in to the hotel, Riza carrying Junior up to the room while Roy half-dragged himself up the stairs. When he got into the room, he didn't bother to turn on a lamp and fell onto one of the beds, exhausted, kicked off his shoes, and fell asleep. Riza smiled to herself and undressed, undressed Junior and put him into some baby clothes, and slipped into bed with Roy. She picked up the phone on the bedside and dialed a number, waiting for someone to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Hi Jack, it's Riza."

"Oh, hey. Are you coming?"

"We are; we stopped at a hotel. Roy is exhausted and we stopped to let him have some rest. I was hoping to be there by tonight, but we'll probably get there tommorrow afternoon."

"That's fine; it was rescheduled to tommorrow night anyway. Why didn't you take a train to North?"

"Well, didn't you hear that all the tracks in North City are frozen over?"

"Ah, oh yeah, well nevermind then. I'll see you tomorrow then, Elizabeth."

She hung up the phone and snuggled down in the bed next to Roy while Junior snoozed in between them. She felt a little regretful for being so harsh with him... but... she didn't want to spoil him.She'd give him breakfast in the morning. She leaned over and kissed his little forehead and Black Hayate woofed softly from the foot of the bed. "Good night, Buraha." Black Hayate woofed in response and laid down his head on his paws.

She was a little tired, but not tired enough to go to sleep right away, so she contented herself with watching Roy in his sleep. He looked peaceful enough, his mouth slightly open, his hair already messed up. She wouldn't have been surprised if he started drooling, but he did that... sometimes, in some of his more... graphic dreams. Graphic dreams which Roy would refuse to share with her unless she did some probing.

He grunted in his sleep and woke up, looking at her with half-closed eyes. "How long do we have to get there?"

"Another 36 hours."

"Good," he sighed, and went back to sleep.

* * *

Yaaaay! 387 reviews! Let's see if we can hit 400!

On a note, there's yet another story...

Love Through Flame and Gunfire

It's a bit different from my other stories. Roy is being tracked down by Homunculus and is also framed for Maes's murder. As a result, he'll have to run or be faced with execution, unless his family and Riza's can get him out and prove his innocence. I've even managed to put Psiren into this fic, for anyone who likes Psiren.

-T A


	23. Tickle Attack

**HEIR TO THE FLAME**

**CHAPTER 23:**

Riza scanned her neck in the hotel mirror and sighed. That Godforsaken hickie was still there, and still very apparent. She directed a glare over to a snoozing Roy, but her face softened when she saw his expression. Blissfully ignorant, peaceful, innocent, and slightly drooling. She could only begin to imagine what on earth he was dreaming of. She had moved Junior to a little kiddie bed on the other side of the room in case Roy rolled over in his 'graphic dreams'. She sighed again when she heard Roy say her name in his sleep. Or, moan, rather. Now she knew what those 'graphic dreams' were about. Maybe he wasn't so innocent in his sleep sometimes, but he was still blissfully ignorant.

She had pondered many times on whether or not she should get back at him by drawing on his face in her non-smudge lipstick, and if she did decide to do it, whether to do it in red or in a lighter color.

She had decided on red as she leaned over him in the bed and pulled the top off of the lipstick. Junior yawned his little baby yawn and padded over to her, pulling himself into her lap rather adamantly and saying he was hungry. Riza shushed him quietly, gently, and had a fiendish idea. She gave Junior the lipstick. "Roy, draw on Daddy's face."

"Mad?"

"No, I won't let him get mad at you."

"Okay!"

"Don't press to hard, you'll wake him up."

Junior nodded and poked his tongue out of the corner of his mouth. He had had plenty of practice drawing on Uncle Fuery's face in marker when he was asleep, and he drew carefully on Roy's face in his mother's lipstick; first littlecircles, then little stick figures of Black Hayate, and finally, a stick figure of Riza, with 'mommy' written in big letters on his forehead. Riza giggled and picked up Junior: the damage was done, revenge was hers.

Roy woke up half an hour later and trudged off to the bathroom to wash his face. He was about halfway done with brushing his teeth when it finally occured to him that he should look in the mirror, and what he saw did not greatly please him.

"WHAT THE HECK IS ON MY FACE!" he yelled from the bathroom, and Riza erupted into laughter, falling on her back onto the bed. Junior had already gone back to sleep having scoffed down a well-deserved chocolate sprinkled doughnut that he had found in the food bag. Roy stormed out of the bathroom, his eyes not yet all the way open, not yet completely awake, his hair disheveled and morning stubble on his face. Once he was sufficiently awake, he watched Riza helplessly laugh herself to death on the bed, clutching her sides and struggling to breathe between bursts of laughter. He struggled to maintain the angry-esque composure. He crossed to the bed, a smirk on his face, and tickled her sides mercilessly which turned her cheeks a fiery pink and made it harder for her to breathe. She sucked in breath when she could and put her arms around Roy's neck, still laughing and giggling into his chest. He made a mighty effort to resist laughing, but it started as a throaty chuckle, and before he knew it he was laughing just as hard as she was, unable to help it as tears sprang to his eyes and he collapsed on top of her, the two of them entangled on the bed laughing their heads off.

There was a knock on the door and Roy managed to choke out, "Yes?"

"Are you alright in there? There's been a lot of noise..."

"Oh, oh... no we're fine!" he forced out, "Riza... Riza stop that! Ahahahaha!" Riza started to tickle his stomach and he rolled onto his stomach next to her to stop her, but she only attacked his sides as well, and he laughed into the mattress, lifting his head up every once in a while to breathe. The man outside must have assumed the wrong thing because soon there was a crowd outside of their door and a hotel security guard knocked in their door to find Roy, who had by this time removed a lot of the lipstick, straddling Riza who was still in her nightclothes, or halfway out of them as the case may be. He couldn't have said that they were in an uncomfortable position, but it was just a little bit embarrassing. It was even more embarrassing when Roy was carted off to the main office of the hotel to apologize for 'disturbing the peace', to which Roy replied,

"Hey, a man has needs!"

* * *

Once again, I took quite a long time to update, sorry 'bout that. 

-T A


	24. Why Things Must Change

**HEIR TO THE FLAME**

**CHAPTER 24: Why Things Must Change**

Roy groaned again at the steering wheel. "Why is your family reunion so far away?" he moaned, his eyes still locked onto the road. It was easily apparent that Roy was not very comfortable with driving, the way his hands were clenching the wheel until his knuckles were white, and the way he clenched his teeth and seemed not to realize it. He stopped at a stop sign and Riza put her hand on his and smiled at him, and he sighed. "Don't get so worked up; it's only driving."

"ButI don't like driving! I hate driving!" he howled.

"Why?"

"Why? When I was little, my dad used to drive me to and from work, just anywhere he had to go. One day, he was driving to the store to get something... a present for my mom's birthday, I think, and another car just slammed into us. I was terrified, I thought the world had ended right there. I was just happily sitting there, doing whatever I was doing, and suddenly 'WHAM', something big and black pulverizes our car and sends it spinning out over a bridge! Now here I am, five or six years old, sitting there in the back seat paralyzed, scared out of my mind, while my dad is still trying to figure out what on earth happened and if he's missing any parts of his body, _hanging over water from a bridge. _In the first place, I can't swim, second of all, I don't think I would have tried if I could.

Eventually they managed to pull the car back and take Dad and I to the hospital, he had his arm and leg broken, but I was fine, if only severly traumatized, and that's why I _don't like driving!"_

Telling the story seemed to have calmed him down a bit and he continued to drive, his eyes sweeping the road like a hawk. "Mom was furious when we got back, and Dad sort of just grinned at her and said we had a 'minor accident'. Mom didn't think it was so minor when Dad had a leg and an arm broken, and I was still shaking."

"You can't swim?" Riza inquired.

"Not very well," Roy admitted. "I just never got the hang of it; Maes and Jean gave me grief over it for years until-" he stopped abruptly, realizing what he had almost said, remembering what he was about to say. "Until your father was executed?"

He nodded. "You know..." he said hollowly. "They're making these new photo slides to show to new recruits."

She didn't know where he was going with this and let him continue.

"It's about Fraternization, I nearly threw up when I saw it."

"Why?"

"You'll understand. You should watch it."

Riza nodded and didn't say anything more. It was obvious that Roy was still extremely sore in the area where his parents, especially his father, were concerned. "I don't think it's fair," he began.

"Why do they kill people, kill children, just because they're fraternized? Is it really such a sin to fraternize at all? Is there something wrong with it? Are fraternized children some kind of freak shows or something?"

"They're scared, Roy."

"Of what?" Roy snorted.

"Take you for example; the son of two alchemists, two very powerful alchemists, can be a dangerous threat to the military."

"Or it can be yet another weapon to use and to break," Roy said bitterly. "If it weren't for my dream, I wouldn't stand for another minute under the military. I'd just... I don't know, but I'd do something! I wouldn't have to blow people up for the military, I could just be... normal."

Normal. But what was normal? His entire family had been in the service of the military for generations, possibly since the military had begun. There had not been a single year of military history that had not seen a Mustang in the ranks, but now... the military was rotten, and his dream was to change that. When he was Fuhrer, there would be changes, big changes. There would be no more execution for Fraternizing, no more needless wars, no more use of alchemists against their will, no sexual discrimination (that one was for Riza), and perhaps... just perhaps... TINY MINISKIRTS!

Riza must have seen the change in his thinking through his facial expression because she smacked him in the head, hard. His head flew forward and smashed itself into the steering wheel until he pulled it back up with effort.

"You were thinking of miniskirts again," she said accusingly.

"Why can't you wear it just once?" he asked, and she directed another glare at him. "Because, you big skirt chaser-" Roy gasped, but Riza ignored him and continued, "I won't be another one of your little playthings to keep on your arm as ornamentation!"

"B-but, I wouldn't do that!" he said indignantly. Skirt-chaser indeed! "I told you I've settled down, and I never 'chased skirts' anyway!"

"Mm-hmm."

"Is that jealousy I detect in your voice, Elizabeth Hawkeye Mustang?"

"I'm not Elizabeth Hawkeye Mustang yet!"

"Ah, but you will be!"

"Just, just keep driving, Roy."

Roy whistled cheerfully as the roads eventually became coated with snow, and Riza directed him to a medium sized house on the outskirts of North City. She got out of the car with Junior at her waist and let him flail about trying to catch the snowflakes falling on his nose. He was delighted with them, and so was Black Hayate, who woofed and tried to chase and catch every snowflake in sight. There was already quite a gathering at the house; it was almost completely dark outside, so they were just on time. Roy got out of the car as well and waved to the gathering. "Family?" he asked.

She nodded and Roy whistled. "Wow, didn't know you had so much. I don't think I ever had that much family."

Riza sighed. She would have to face all of her relatives now. Her cheek pinching aunts, kissy grandmothers, her gossipy cousins, boastful uncles... the only ones she regarded as sane were her maternal grandfather, her father, and her brother. She took Roy's hand and quickly led him up the slope, just the way she remembered doing as a little girl. If you didn't head up the right way, you would slip and hit your head, not to mention slide all the way back down.

She handed Junior to Roy and Roy shifted Junior to one arm. Junior squealed in protest, not wanting to be carried by his father. _He's a mommy's boy alright. _Roy thought, amused.

Junior settled down before they got to the top and was soon snoozing, his face buried into Roy's black and red scarf. Black Hayate barked loudly and Jack looked up and waved, pulling on his father's sleeve to get his attention.

Jack ran towards them and swooped up Riza in his arms, and Riza beat him around the head rather uncerimoniously. "Put me down, you big ape!"

"Ape! You come back home and this is what I get? Not 'How are you doing, Jack?', noooo, I get 'Put me down, you big ape!'. The indignity of it all!" He said playfully, but put her down all the same. He wasn't fond of his sister beating him over the head, and he rubbed it tenderly. "Owww..."

Their father came up quickly behind his son. "I'm glad you could come, Elizabeth... how was the trip?"

"It was fine for me, but I think Roy's all tired ou-" She stopped when she saw Roy attacking the wine and chatting rather animatedly to General Grummon with Junior still sleeping against his scarf.

"So much for being tired," she sighed. "Has anything changed around here?" Jackory shook his head, looking back to the house briefly. "No... same old same old... it's been lonely since your mother died... but I'm holding up alright, I suppose."

"You could have written," she pointed out, and he looked surprised.

"I did! But you never answered any of the letters!"

"You did? They never got to me."

"Curse communication difficulties... I'll try harder to get mail to you, Elizabeth."

"Send it to Roy's house, I stay with him now."

"Oh, you do? Ahhh... young love..." he started to drift off and daydream in the middle of his sentence, but snapped himself back to attention. "Anyway, there've been some things I've been meaning to give you... I didn't trust the mail, and now it's better that I didn't, isn't i-" he stopped and his eyes narrowed, focusing on something behind Riza.

"You have company, Daughter," he said. He walked past her and planted himself firmly in front of her, in between her and General Haruko. Roy, who had been a ways off to let Riza socialize with her immediate family stopped all of his activities, yet he and Grummon pretended they were talking so they could assess what was happening. Roy didn't like it. Why wasa general here at a family reunion? And this particular general... it made his blood boil.

"I've just come to tell the First Lieutenant that she is being repositioned in my district again," he said, and Roy wanted to scream.

Jackory reguarded him calmly. "But she was taken out of your district a short while ago."

"There was an... incident. On a train. I am back now,"

"Still, she was redistricted. And what business do you have, coming on my property?"

"I don't think you are in a position to make inquiries. You are a civilian, so stand aside."

Jackory had heard all about Riza's current situation from Jack, and that was all he had needed to hear. "I refuse." The party started to mumble uneasily and Jackory raised his voice. "I refuse!"

Everything became deathly silent.

"If you refuse the orders of a military official, you will be charged with obstruction of duty. I will be authorized to deal with you as I see fit."

Jackory grinned at him lazily and looked back at Riza, slowly looked at Roy, then jerked his head in the direction of the house. She backed up two steps and Jackory folded his arms over his chest. "I'm still a young man, let's see if I can't still obstruct your duty. Do your worst, you... you..." anger started to rise in his voice and his face became truly furious. "YOU MILITARY SCUM!"

Roy and Jack had already started for the house after Riza had passed them. Jack ushered them quickly up the steps. "If anything breaks out, you'll be safe in the house," he told them. "Dad'll take care of everything!" Roy looked back at the general and Riza's father, still squaring off, worriedly. "Will he be alright?"

"Sure he will. Dad used to be one of the military too, a sniper and an alchemist. Maybe you heard of him? He was the GoldenEye Alchemist."

The GoldenEye Alchemist... an alchemist and a sniper, the GoldenEye Alchemist was famous for his stealth operations, his infalliable eye as a marksman. Not only that... but not one mission that he had been sent on had been failed, all were carried out to perfect precision... the cause for his retirement was unknown.

Jack opened the lock to the house hurriedly and pushed them inside, closing it shut behind him.

"What about everyone else? What if a gunfight starts?" Roy asked.

"I doubt Haruko will want to start a feud with twenty gunwielding members of the Hawkeye family. You may not have realized it, but every one of them was armed. If he values his life, Haruko will submit. Either he will submit, or Father will kill him."

"That a bit..."

"Rash? Father... has reasons to hate the military. So do we."

"So what's the deal?" he asked, trying to comfort a frightened Junior. Jack lit a lampand light glowed in the room. It was a living room, a main room, and above the fireplace, next to assorted couches and shelf upon shelf of books, was a large picture. A large picture of a woman.

"That was our mother," Riza said softly. "She was killed by the military when we were small. One of the officers supposedly went for a check, because there had been threats of violence in the main district of North City... Mom worked at one of the clothing stores in that district, and... and..."

"They accused her of being the one that orchestrated the threats of violence. They took her away and put her to death. They... they... they shot her in front of Father!"

"That's when he resigned from the military. He swore he would never go back, never give in to the military again. He... he hates them, he really hates them, with all his heart," Riza finished, and Roy mulled over her words.

"So why did you join? You must have known how strongly he would have opposed it."

"I thought... I thought I could make a difference, maybe I could find a person who could change things. And I did."

"Me?" Roy asked, and she nodded. He frowned, looking faraway and in deep thought.

"I thought I'd be able to change things too. But nothing will happen right away; I have you, and Junior... no, everyone, my subordinates, my friends... even Fullmetal, whether he likes it or not. I have to protect you, and to do that I'll do whatever it takes to become Fuhrer... we'll figure this out. Somehow."

* * *

For anyone who is interested, the sequel to Halfmetal Alchemist, Halfmetal Guardian: War of Broken Memories has been posted on FFNet. Check it out and review, if you feel like it. Hope you guys like this chapter as well, though it's taken a bit of a more serious tone than last chapter's. I liked the last chapter too, Riza had her revenge, mwahahahahahaaaa!

-T A


	25. Black Death

**HEIR TO THE FLAME**

**CHAPTER 25: Black Death**

Roy sat huddled by the fire, Riza's head resting gently on his shoulder, her breathing even and quiet.Black Hayate opened one eye and closed it again. Everything was fine, so far. As Roy drifted off to sleep, he had the strange feeling that something was missing...

Black Hayate sniffed the air, his ears going flat on his head, and stood up. He trotted away and Roy let him, thinking, _It must be nothing... _

Black Hayate padded down the wood floored hallway, sniffing here, sniffing there, then stopping in front of the front door. He sat down on his haunches and wagged his tail, once, twice, then sniffed the crack under the door. Deducing that he wouldn't get out this way, he searched for another way outside, sniffing and poking into every room cautiously. Something smelled strange... something different! He prodded into another room but was disappointed when the strange smell disappeared. Maybe it was nothing.

Hayate whined and trotted back down the hall to Roy and Riza, or as he liked to think of them, Mommy and Daddy, when he stopped again, paw poised to take another step. His head swung into a room and his jaw dropped, panting happily. A way out! He climbed up on the bed and managed to stick his snout into the crack of the window. It was only slightly open, but it was enough. After much manuevering and whining, he managed to lift it up and bound outside to freedom.

He quickly put his nose to the ground and started to sniff. His quarry couldn't have gotten far; it was a small quarry anyway, but still very precious. His nose detected that strange and unwelcome scent again, the scent that his mommy despised, mixed in with the scent of his quarry.

He didn't like it.

He sniffed further, with more urgency, his steps quickening, and found that the scent of his quarry was mixed with distress, and his head went back to the house, and he howled.

Riza jolted awake, her fingers burying themselves into Roy's shirt, and he grunted and awoke as well. "Whazzamatter?" he asked drowsily, and her gaze sweeped anxiously from left to right. "Where's Junior?" she asked, her voice becoming high pitched and almost hysterical. Roy roused himself from his stupor almost immediately at her words and he too looked for Junior. They heard another howl and Riza jumped up, lifting himup quickly. "That was Hayate!" she cried, and they both bolted from the house and down the slope.

Black Hayate was fast on the trail now, his legs pumping and his body flying along his trail-scent. He would find his quarry and his teeth would rip the perpetrator asunder. A growl rose in his throat, and then another howl, and his canine ears picked up a gasp up ahead, a short plaintive gasp, and a faint wailing.

Further along, his chase was stopped by a hunched figure leaning heavily against a tree, hand clasped at his side and something much like water, but smelling much like iron, dripping freely between his fingers. Hayate whined and approached the figure, and Jackory looked up, a pained smile on his face. "Hey Hayate, long time no see..." he gritted his teeth and Hayate licked his hand. "Hurry, go get him, Boy, he's got the little one... go!" Black Hayate woofed and turned back to the trail.

Roy and Riza followed Hayte's pawprints in the snow at a dead run; neither wanted to risk losing the trail. It looked like it was going to snow any minute.

Finally, a howl of triumph rose in Hayate's throat and he rushed at the figure carrying his quarry with all the malicious intent a dog could possess. Fangs bared, he sank his teeth into the man's arm and the man howled curses, letting go of Hayate's quarry. Hayate watched little Junior tumble in the snow and start to wail, and Hayate sank his teeth into the man's leg, earning another curse and a vicious kick, and Hayate whimpered as he felt something warm and wet trickle from his head. Hayate decided to retreat and ran over to little Junior, picking him up by Junior's collar, and proceeded to carry him away when the man whipped something out of a holster at his waist.

Riza saw Hayate attack the man that she identified as Haruko twice, watched as Hayate picked up Junior and started to run towards her, and saw Haruko grab something out of a holster. There was a loud bang and Hayate seemed to fly forward with Junior in his jaws, crimson stained the white snow and Hayate thudded into the ground.

And lay still.

Haruko chose the moment to flee and Riza let him. She kneeled down on her knees by her precious pet and pulled Junior away from him gently. She stroked the fur on Hayate's back and tears rolled down her cheeks. "Buraha..." Roy finally made it, having not been able to keep up with Riza's speed, and froze at the sight. "Oh no..." he murmured, and he kneeled down next to Riza, also patting Black Hayate for the last time.

Riza stood up with Junior and backed away, still trying to wipe away her tears, and Roy snapped his fingers, immolating the dog completely until he was nothing but ashes. She cried even harder and Junior stirred in her arms, only now waking up from his frightening ordeal. Roy transmuted the ground around the ashes into a stone bottle and picked it up, the only remains of their trusted friend, the dog, Black Hayate.


	26. Fullmetal vs Flame, HttF Style!

**HEIR TO THE FLAME**

**CHAPTER 26: Fullmetal Vs.Flame, Heir to the Flame Style**

**_3 years later..._**

Roy looked at the puppy in the box again, a mischevious gleam in his eyes.

Maybe this little puppy could be used to his advantage... He examined it one more time, then managed to lure Fuery out into the side of the street by getting Junior to swipe his glasses and toss them near the box. Junior trotted back inside, his mission completed, and Roy waited for the walking animal shelter called Fuery to take pity on the shivering animal and bring it inside.

An unearthly scream echoed through Eastern Headquarters and Roy sighed. He should have remembered that Breda was terrified of dogs. How could you be afraid of dogs anyway? Now... now all he had to do was wait for all the pieces to fall into place. Ed could be seen wandering the halls trying to avoid Roy at all costs, though Roy was perfectly aware that he was there: The suspicious meowing noise made sure of that, that and the clank as Al's armor body thudded down the corridors. Roy sighed once again; if Ed was going to avoid him he could at least do it quietly... Junior picked up Belcini and looked up at him, asking where his mother was, and Roy suggested that he look in the break room.

Junior peeked into the breakroom just down the hall and saw that his mother was reading a book. Everyone had free time today, everyone except Roy who had put off his paperwork until the last minute. He was busy, but Junior pouted anyway. Who would play with him tonight now? He would be up half the night trying to finish the rest of the work, stupid daddy.

She closed the book as Fuery stepped in behind him, ruffling Junior's hair as he passed, depositing the puppy on the floor. "It was so cold and lonely... I just couldn't leave it!" he said. Riza looked the pup up and down, and Junior sat on the floor next to the puppy to pet and cuddle with it. Junior wasn't inclined to talk too much nowadays, though Riza had no idea why; he was usually very animated and talkative. His eyes seemed to light up, however, once he had gotten his hands on the pup, with his cat Belcini still stretched out luxuriously on his neck.

First Havoc took the dog. "I like dogs," he said.

"Really?" Fuery beamed, relieved that the pup had found an owner so quickly.

"Sure, I heard in the far East they raise them as a delicacy, especially these plump ones..." Junior wailed pitifully from the floor and Riza snatched the puppy back. "Maybe we should try to find him a better owner..."

Roy groaned inwardly as Ed dumped himself on the couch, he had a lot of work to do after all, and he had to listen to the midget's new heroisms. Perfect. It wasn't like he hadn't heard it all already from detectives, imprisoned mine officials, and the military police discovering just what the heck had happened at Xenotime. Cleaning up after Edward Elric was just one big mess after the other, like cleaning up after his son when he had been a baby.

After annoying Ed and disclosing absolutely nothing about Tim Marcoh, he put his head on his desk. What did he do to deserve all this paperwork, honestly? He was too handsome for this sort of job!

Riza would have hit him for that one, hit him and laughed. She was having strange moods, and he could only guess why. After complaining about all her hair in the bathroom that morning, she had given him a strange look, stalked away, and promptly fallen asleep. He just didn't get it.

After swinging by the mess hall to see what kind of slop they were giving away to eat that day and not liking the looks of it, he dropped by the break room. Even he needed a break from mountain loads of work, even if he had, he grudgingly admitted, brought it on himself. He stopped in the doorway and saw the puppy in Fuery's hands, and his mind worked quickly. Nobody had taken the pup yet? Why wasn't... Grrr...

He stomped over to Fuery and plucked the dog out of his hands.

"Dog, huh?

"I love dogs!"

"REALLY?" Fuery asked, by this time desperate to give the dog an owner.

"Of course!" he cried, his head swinging back to Fuery to stare him in the eye glinting evilly.

"Dogs embody loyalty, they follow their master's commands above all else! Be a jerk to them and they never complain, and they never once beg for a paycheck! Yes, Fuery, they are the great servants of man! Hahahahahahaha!"

Fuery stared at him like he was crazy and Junior took the pup from Roy's hands, cradling it against his chest protectively. "Bad Daddy!" he said.

"Well, you're awfully manic today Chief; I thought that Fullmetal's challenge would worry you some," Havoc said with a grin, chucking his cigarette pack out the window before he felt the urge to smoke them. Roy closed his eyes and smiled. "Of course not, and besides, the Fuhrer would never allow it!"

Half an hour later, Roy found himself outside in the parade grounds in the 'blue corner', with Maes posing in front of a gigantic photo of his daughter. Roy rubbed his temples; why exactly was Maes his friend again...?

Fullmetal had hissed something to him about a cat, but more clearly something about Marcoh. Roy guessed he would oblige eventually, but he did like to see the kid irritated. Riza sighed and decided that the best course of action would be to stand just a little farther back than everyone else; it was always dangerous to be close when Roy fought with his flames.

Maes screamed for the fight to begin and bolted straight for the doors of HQ, leaving Ed stunned and open to Roy's first shot. Roy couldn't say that he had a lot of support from the other soldiers, but the support that counted was the support from his subordinates, friends, and most importantly, Riza and Junior.

Ed ran for it as quickly as his little legs could take him away from Roy's flames and hopped over the guardrail and into the audience. Roy smirked and scanned the crowd lazily. "Well, I guess I can't torch you _all..._" he shrugged and half-turned. "This is hard, he's such a _small target!" _A blue faced Fullmetal popped his head out of the audience, screaming, "_Who are you calling small?"_

"If the opponant is of choleric temper, seek to irritate and never fall for an enemy's taunts," he said, echoing one of the many battle mantras of his father, as he snapped his fingers. The audience was blown into the air along with Ed and he eventually crashed back into the ground as Roy was regretting making his explosion so large. He thought he saw the sillouhette of Ed in the dust and raised his hand up again. "Want more- ah!" He turned away from the Ed-Dummy just in time to avoid being impaled by Fullmetal's automail blade, but it took out the circle on his glove all the same.

"Damn!" he cursed, holding his hand and spinning around to face Fullmetal again.

"Without those gloves you can't make flames anymore! That's advantage Elric! HA!" he cried triumphantly, pressing his hands to the ground and transmuting a giant cannon.Roy smirked again and drew his other hand out of his pocket, revealing another glove with the circle sewn into it. Ed screamed and Roy snapped, blowing the cannon into oblivion.

Once Ed hit the ground yet again, Roy stood over him, fingers poised.

"All war is deception. Think your enemyhas a weaknessand it becomes his strength."

"Just finish it!" Ed groaned, gritting his teeth.

"You don't have to ask," he said, but he gasped as images of the Ishbal War floated through his mind, becoming painfully, horribly real. "Ross!" he hissed, and the next thing he knew there was a blade almost touching his throat, his own fingers still poised in snapping position.

"Now now, that's quite enough. A wonderful display by two skilled alchemists," Fuhrer Bradley said, clapping his hands together softly. Roy mumbled that he was honored by the praise, though he didn't really mean it, and Ed growled not to stop them. "We're not finished yet!" he argued.

"That's true," the Fuhrer said, "But if I allowed you to continue it would be much harder for just the two of you to clean up." Roy was resigned to his fate, he knew this had been coming.

He yawned and sat down heavily on a rock, his hands still on the shovel. Riza watched them both, Roy's uniform top folded in her arms with Junior at her side, still stroking the small pup's head and cuddling with it. Ed stopped in his transmuting for a second and looked over at Roy.

"Why did you stop? If you had the chance, you should have finished it."

Roy looked over his shoulder at Ed, an unreadable expression on his face, and looked back at his shovel. "This goes back more years than I care to admit, but there was something called the Ishbal Rebellion. I saw my share... of truly terrible things..." he wasn't willing to go into detail, Ed saw, since his shoulders had hunched slightly.

"Marcoh, the deserter... he was the smartest one among us, I still think so, even today."

"You mean he's still alive!" Ed asked hopefully, and Roy nodded at Ed over his shoulder.

"Colonel... you still didn't tell me... why you hesitated. Never mind. You don't have to say."

Roy stood up and yawned widely again, stretching his cramped muscles and walking over to Riza, ruffling Junior's hair fondly, and retrieved his uniform, pulling it on but not buttoning it up. They retreated back to HQ and Maes wasted no time in clapping his hand on Roy's back. "Yo, Mustang! How was the fight?"

"How do you think it was, Maes? It was perfect!" Roy hissed, turning on him irritably. Maes held up his hands defensively. "Hey hey, I was just asking, no need to tear my head off. Did you... that... remember...? Ah." Roy nodded curtly to Maes's unfinished question and Maes nodded knowing, leaving Riza in the dark. She figured that if Roy wanted to tell her, he would tell her on his own time, and resigned herself to watching Junior like a hawk as he constantly weaved and zigzagged between Fuery, Falman, and Havoc. Fuery took the pup from him for a few minutes and walked into the break room again, stroking the pup forlornly. "I suppose I'll have to put him out again..."

"If you have no other candidates..." Riza said, putting her hands on her hips. "I suppose I can take him, Fuery." The pup squirmed out of his grasp and ran to the wall yipping, lifting his leg ominously, and Junior's face scrunched up.

"He's using the potty!"

"Guess he's just relieved to have an owner, hahah..." Fuery said as Riza whipped out her pistol and fired into the wall. The others in the room sweatdropped, their mouths hanging open, as the dust cleared to reveal a paralyzed pup.

"Now you won't be doing that again, will you, pup? See, you've got a strict mommy now; the bathroom's over here, got it, Black Hayate?"

Jean and Maes siddled over to Roy. "How do you live with her?" They hissed, and Roy didn't give them a response and Junior happily clung to his leg.

Sometimes even he didn't know how he lived with Riza Hawkeye.

* * *

If you couldn't tell, this is the AU Heir to the Flame version of Fullmetal Vs.Flame. For everyone, I'm sorry that I killed the older Black Hayate off, but he had to go in order to let the new Buraha in, and I thought the best way to go would be to save Junior. I'M SORRY, BLACK HAYATE!

I might be slower to update now, as I've just become SUPER SICK, and it hurts just to be touched... Ow.

-T A


	27. Dreams and JJ

**HEIR TO THE FLAME**

**CHAPTER 27: DREAMS- AND J.J.-**

"Riza, why do people start wars?" Roy asked from his position on the couch. It was, all in all, a rather awkward position, with one arm and leg hanging over the edge, foot on one armrest, the other arm on top of the back of the couch, and his head leaned on the opposite armrest, but it was the way he had managed to flop himself down in, and there he would stay. Junior was imitating him, or at least trying to since he wasn't big enough to splay himself all over a couch. After realizing that he probably wouldn't have too much luck with his current activity, he whistled to Black Hayate and picked up the phone to dial his uncle Jean's number: he wanted to play with Luna.

Riza stopped for a moment in the middle of washing dishes and shrugged. "I don't know, Roy... because people can't get along, I suppose..."

"And why do stupid people like you and I takepart in wars?"

"Because we're ordered to do it."

"I should have just bailed out... it would have... everything would have been so much better... but I was just too... too...

"Young I suppose, I was too eager to see battle, and when I saw it... when I saw war for what it really was... when I saw what it did to people, how it ripped lives apart, fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers... friends... all dying in front of you... or... me, blowing them up!" He held his hand in the air above him and clenched it tightly.

"Was anything really worth those wars? Were the Ishbalans ever going to do something so terrible to us? Something so terrible that it required genocide to finish off? Alchemic Genocide!

"And I know what snipers have done as well, Riza, your lot wasn't all flowers and roses either..." Riza nodded from the kitchen sink, still trying to scrub off some goop that Junior had decided to coat his plate in, then moving on to wash Black Hayate's food bowl.

"Snipers had a hard time too... I was a sniper once, Riza."

She stopped in surprise. "Really?I didn't know that... I thought you were always an alchemist?"

"I was... I was. I became a State Alchemist when I was thirteen... but when the war started my-... I... a superior officer said Iwas too young to participate as a State Alchemist, so my total participation in the war was held off for another couple of years... when that officer died, I was finally allowed to participate as a State Alchemist... in the genocide."

She put the plates away into a cupboard and filled Buraha's bowl with food, then told Junior that Luna could come over to play. "That was... when you were nineteen, wasn't it?"

"Yes."

"This superior officer... was he... significant to you?"

"Did I care about him?"

"Yes, that's a better way to say it."

"Yes... yes I did... not in any weird kind of way!" he interrupted quickly, just to get the point across, "But he was... very important to me. He practically raised me," he murmured, turning onto his stomach and resting his chin on the armrest. Or, chinrest now, he supposed.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Roy sighed and buried his head in his arms. "Not now... I don't want to talk about it..."

"Alright..." Sometimes he worried her. He could be so moody and emotional sometimes, so different from his usual self-confidant and suave demeanor. But she supposed that there had been a lot in his life to be moody about, so many where she had had so few. Looking back on things, she realized that she had been very childish, the way she had purposely kept her father away from her for so long when she knew that he would be all on his own, living in an empty house. He had suffered as well... it seemed that all alchemists suffered, and that they never got their 'equivalent exchange'. How could you find equivalence for things that would haunt you for the rest of your life?

The bell rang and Roy heaved himself up off the couch to answer it, while Junior and Buraha scratched and jumped eagerly for the doorknob. He grinned at the two of them and opened the door after checking who was there, satisfied that it was only Jean and Luna. "Morning, Havoc. You sure are cheerful this morning; you've never been a morning person."

"Aw shove it, Keira had another baby!"

"Havoc! What on earth have you done to your poor wife?"

"Hey, she said she wanted another baby..."

"So what is it this time?"

"A boy!" Jean glowed. "But Keira named him Jean Junior... and Luna's already nicknamed him J.J."

"J.J..." Roy mused. "Not bad for a nickname, eh?"

"I suppose... he looks just like me tho', and he's just as smart as Junior was. He can already talk!"

"Havoc, how long has the kid been alive...?"

"Bout a year, actually..."

"Do you _like _keeping your kids a secret, Jean?"

"Yeah, actually. You'd find that it's very beneficial, Maes doesn't keep trying to sneak into my house to take pictures. What he doesn't know doesn't hurt him..."

"What he knows about _me _though, does hurt him," Roy laughed and Jean joined him.

"Yeah, Maes is a crazy guy. Keira wanted to ask if you, Riza, and Junior want to come over for dinner or something, you know, just as a get together. She's still debating over whether to invite Maes though, she doesn't want a camera in her face snapping pictures of her and the baby."

"Just break his camera."

"But you know Maes... he's got like five hidden his sleeves."

"Touche."

Luna and Junior had by this time commenced playing with Buraha under Riza's watchful eye; she didn't want them to tease the pup _too _or get hurt either. Sometimes playing could lead to fights and injuries...

Roy turned back inside. "Riza? Keira wants to know if we can come to dinner. How does that sound to you?"

"Sounds fine to me."

"Alright then, dinner it is."

Jean nodded. "That's good, we'll see you guys at seven then, at our place."

"Seven, got it. Don't forget to invite Maes!"

"Yeah, I won't. I'll come back to pick up Luna around lunch time, about two hours." He bent down and patted Luna's head, and she looked up at him with big blue eyes. "You be good while Daddy's gone, okay, Luna?"

"I will, Daddy!" she said, grabbing his hand and holding onto it. He grinned and hugged her tightly for a minute before letting her go.

"I'll be back in about two hours for lunch."

"'Kay! Bye Daddy!"

"Bye, Luna." He waved good-bye to Luna, Junior, Riza, and Roy, and walked back to his motorcycle to go back home. Luna got up and bounded for the porch, grabbing the porch rail and hanging off of it, waving to Jean. "Tell J.J I said hi!" Jean waved and gave her a thumbs up sign from his motorcycle before starting the engine and driving away. Luna went back inside with her motorcycle helmet to resume playing with Junior, and Junior looked up at her.

"I wish I had a baby brother... Mama!"

"Yes?"

"Can I have a baby brother? Or sister?"

"I don't know, ask your daddy."

"Daddy? Can I have a baby brother or sister?"

"I don't know, kiddo... maybe." he wasn't so sure he wanted to risk having another child just yet; it was hard enough covering up for Junior. Frankly, he was amazed that no one had figured it out yet. He practically sweated bullets every day just wondering whether that day would be the day they would be caught.

"Awwww..." Junior moaned forlornly, going back to play chess with Luna. Or at least, figure out how to play with the pieces of a chessboard. Roy dumped himself on the couch again and was joined a few minutes later by Riza. As soon as she sat down, he took the opportunity to promptly put his head in her lap and she looked down at him, waving her finger. "Now what do you think you're doing?" she asked, surprised, and he looked up at her.

"It's comfy..." he whined playfully, and she blew hair out of her eyes.

"Mm-hmm... why don't you actually work then? You seem to have a lot of 'comfy spots' for being so 'busy'."

"Ah, but working's no fun, and most of my 'comfy spots' are on you," he said grinning up at her. She leaned her head back again and smiled, stroking his hair.

"Oh fine... if you want to play that way..."

Junior and Luna blanched from the floor, picking up their chessboard to play upstairs away from the 'Mommy and Daddy Mushiness', which Luna also had experience with, and Buraha excused himself to drink out of his water bowl.

He looked up at Riza again. "I'd try to work harder, but then people would get suspicious," he joked.

"Well then you won't mind if shoot bullets near your head to keep you working, now will you?" she said frostily, and Roy shivered on her lap.

"N-no, of course not..." he muttered. Just what he needed, more bullets in his wall, or in his head.

They didn't speak for a while; the atmosphere was drowsy and they both started to drift into sleep, slowly, slowly, until Roy was fast asleep and Riza's were only half-open. She didn't know why she was getting so tired nowadays, she just _was._

Oh no, I'm dreaming again, aren't I? _Roy thought, looking around the landscape. He hated it when he dreamed, things seemed too real, much too real for his liking. He looked down at himself and was surprised at what he saw: He was much younger, and as a result thinner, smaller, and more boyish. In his hands was a heavy rifle with ammo rounds slung in belts across his chest and around his waist, another rifle at his back. His hands immediately dropped the rifle and went to his pockets, looking for his gloves, but they weren't there, and he stood there, stunned, until he gathered his senses and picked up the gun again. He was already not liking this dream. The rifle was so new he could see his face reflected in the steel- it had not been fired off even once- but the gun's newness contrasted with the stark reality around him, this portrait of destruction. There was smoke and sand blowing around him, and he seemed to be standing in the middle of an encampment. He looked into the steel of the gun again. He looked very young, too young, for this sort of thing, for war, but those hadn't been his thoughts back then. He looked around at the tents, most roughshod and hastily erected, they looked like they would fall down again at the least provocation. He looked around, confused: what was he, after all? He was little more than a child, only sixteen years old._

_One of the tent flaps opened and a familiar face came out; he was older than Roy, a man while Roy was still a boy, and a State Alchemist at that. Roy felt envy surge in his veins. Why had he been denied to fight as a State Alchemist? Why couldn't he fight too? The man waved to him and came up beside him, and Roy looked up and over his own shoulder at the man, relieved._

_"Colonel Ross!" he said, saluting smartly. The man, Ross, sighed and ran his hand through his brown hair, tugging at his red headband vaguely. There were two metal rings on either side of the band, two on each side near his temples. The use for them, even Roy didn't know, though he thought it was more for decorative purposes. His green eyes glimmered with life and his eyebrows shot up. "Now now, you know I told you it's just Ross..."_

_"But, Sir-"_

_"Fine, you want to play that way... Major, I order you to only address me as Ross from now on!"_

_Roy bowed his head in defeat. "But..."_

_"No buts, we aren't just a couple of soldiers, are we?"_

_"No Ross, but..."_

_"Don't worry about it... why are you still toting all those guns around? Come to my tent, come on!" He seized Roy's arm and dragged him to the tent from which he had come, and Roy's eyes fell to his own military uniform. It signified the rank of Major._

_Roy lay down on the floor on his elbows, sketching random transmutation circles in the dirt while Ross sat cross-legged on his cot chewing the end of a pen and scribbling something down in a book. Roy looked up from the floor. "Ross?"_

_"Yeah?"_

_"Why didn't you let me fight? As an alchemist?"_

_Ross stopped his writing, his pen poised above the paper, and cursed softly as a heavy drop of ink splattered onto the paper. "You're too young, Roy."_

_"I am not too young!" Roy argued, getting up onto his knees. "You just won't let me have a chance!"_

_"You haven't seen war, Roy."_

_"That's because you won't let me have the chance!"_

_"And I don't _want _you to see true war!" Ross said firmly, looking back down at his notebook. "War is a place that-"_

_"Drains all hope, where wounds are made that never heal, yeah yeah, I know! You've said it a million times!"_

_"You hear it but you don't understand it."_

_"Feh, you don't know what you're talking about," Roy grumbled, getting back on his elbows. "It's not fair, Ross. I'm the Flame Alchemist, I should be able to fight too."_

_"And I'm the Firestorm Alchemist, and I wish I could stop fighting."_

_"Then trade places with me!"_

_"That, I will not do."_

_"But why?"_

_"Because you are a _child, _Roy, _a child!_ And I won't let you do something so foolhardy as become an alchemist within the ranks. I was pushing my judgement even letting you on this battlefield; I didn't want to, but you pushed me, so now you're here. Roy, I don't want you to get hurt-"_

_"I'm not a baby, Ross! I don't _need _you to look after me, YOU'RE NOT MY FATHER!"_

_Ross stopped and stared at him, truly at a loss for words, then his eyes clouded over and he looked at the book in his hands again, turning it over and over in his hands. "That's true. I'm not... your father."_

_"And you can never be my father!"_

_"...I know."_

_"So why do you even... why bother Ross, why bother?" Roy yelled at him from the floor. _

_"Why bother? Simply because I care, because I can't see you hurt.I know you're still hurting over the fact that he died... but seeing you hurt hurts me too."_

_"Or so you say," Roy huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. Ross shook his head and stood up as Roy got up to leave and walked over to him. _

_"Whatever happens, you'll learn. Whether or not you'll learn in time... it's all up to whether you live, or die. That's the basic rule of war. Live to fight and be hurt, or die and be released from pain. Only... death means the end of everything, and after war... it might be a blessing."_

_He surprised Roy by hugging him tightly, his hand on his head, and Roy jerked before relaxing a bit. "I love you, Roy, I know I haven't said it a lot... but whatever happens, happens, and you've got to keep living. Alchemy... doesn't always exchange for something good." And with that he left Roy standing in the middle of the tent confused and dazed._

_The world blurred and Roy found himself on his knees on the ground, his gloved hand supporting the head of the fallen Firestorm Colonel, his other hand trying to stem the flow of blood from the wound on his chest. Ross's brilliant green eyes, ever so full of life, seemed clouded, and tears rolled down Roy's dirt and blood streaked face. Ross grinned at him, trying to make light of the situation._

_"Not so deep as a well, not so wide as a church door, but it's enough; it will serve. Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man!" he coughed and he gritted his teeth in pain._

_"Ross, don't joke, don't kid around with this!" Roy pleaded and Ross shook his head. _

_"What would be the point then, to go out without humor? There is nothing better."_

_"You won't die!"_

_"I will," Ross said adamantly, "It's useless to try to disillusion yourself; I've seen what wounds can do to people, I know what they do, when they're fatal and when they're not. I wanted to be a doctor once, Roy."_

_"I know, Ross, I know," Roy sobbed. _

_"Oh, hey now, don't cry over me, I don't want that! Gotta keep your face unmarked for the ladies, hmm? Speaking of ladies..." Ross struggled mightily and pushed his hand into his pocket, retrieving a box with some difficulty and placing it in Roy's hand. "Give this... to her... to Marta, tell her I'm sorry... and Roy... I'm sorry, I couldn't take care of you," he gasped, and then he was limp. Roy crouched there over the body of his fallen comrade, shivering and shaking with anger and sorrow and he clutched the box tightly against his chest with his gloved hands. Ross had given up holding him back now,he could fight. Ross had given up when he had died, and now Roy was in charge of his decisions. Alone again. It brought a bitter taste into his mouth._

_He looked up, tears in his eyes, as a shadow fell across him. A man with an eyepatch, tall, and rather square jawed, if slightly jovial looking, was behind him, with a vicious sword at his belt. "Hmm... I see our Colonel Ross has fallen... and with him goes our Firestorm Alchemist, the military's finest..._

_"Tell me, Major Mustang... do you wish to fight?" And Roy looked up at Fuhrer King Bradley, a fire-eyed fury taking ahold of him. "Yes," he said. "Yes, I want to fight!"_

* * *

_"Not so deep as a well, not so wide as a church door, but 'tis enough;'twill serve. Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man!"_

Well, for my reviewers this chapter, I have a challenge. If anyone can tell me where this quote is from, and who uttered it, I shall reveal the backstory of Colonel Ross in a small sidestory and his relationship with Roy. However you choose to interpret that relationship, however, is up to you.

I'll give you a hint though... Those last words of Colonel Ross were also the last words of another character in a famous Shakespear play.

Can you figure it out?

_Hint Number 1: "Not so deep as a well, not so wide as a church door, but 'tis enough;'twill serve. Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man!"_

The character who died in this play also happens to be my personal favorite, and I'll tell you another of my favorites. Whether or not if he's from the same play, however, is up to you to decide.

Hint number 2: Another of my favorite characters is Tybalt, from Romeo and Juliet.

Colonel Ross's story is actually quite interesting, and it will explain Roy's ferocity in another conflict later in the story :3

I'm being too evil, I think :3

-T A


	28. Death

**HEIR TO THE FLAME**

**CHAPTER 28: Death**

_"You can't stay like this, you know." Roy looked up and over his shoulder and sniffled, turning back and laying his chin on his arms. _

_"Don't you have a home to go to, kid?" _

_"...Yeah... but nobody's there."_

_"Nobody... so you're an orphan then."_

_"...yeah..."_

_"Here, come walk with me."_

_Roy looked upat the man again, weighing his options. It could be potentially dangerous to just go off... then again... what did he have to lose? He got up and brushed off his legs, and the man held out his hand. Roy hesitated, his obsidian eyes boring into green. He stopped hesitating, saw something friendly in those eyes, something akin to the warmth that had been in his father's eyes, and took his hand, wrapping his fingers tightly around it. _

_"It's always a shame to see a little kid on the streets, even if they have a home. You've lost your parents, I'm assuming. Lost them permanantly."_

_Roy nodded and squeezed the hand, and the hand squeezed back reassuringly. "It's alright. Let me take you to my place." He let go of Roy's hand as it started to rain and he took off his coat, covering Roy completely in it, making sure it was over his head to protect him from the rain. He looked down at Roy and smiled and Roy smiled back, a small smile, and his hand reached up to take the man's hand again. _

_"I knew your dad... worked under him a lot."_

_"You knew him?"_

_"Mm-hmm... he was a great guy, he had such big dreams... he wanted to be Fuhrer."_

_"Fuhrer..." Little Roy seemed to ponder about the word, hand still entwined in the older man's, and he looked up again. "What's your name?"_

_"My name? Windsor Ross... you can just call me Ross."_

_"Where are you taking me?"_

_"Kids shouldn't be left without guidance..." he ruffled Roy's hair and smiled again. "So... what say you about me adopting you... or becoming your surrogate father, rather."_

_Roy thought about it; Ross seemed nice enough... "Okay."_

* * *

_"Ross! Did I do better?"Roy asked, pointing at the pile of ash. Ross stooped down and picked the ash up in his hands, letting it run through his fingers. _

_"You did better... but you can do better than this."_

_"But Ross... I'm hungry!" Roy whined. _

_"Try one more time!"_

_"But I'm hungry!" Roy whined again, his stomach growling to back him up. _

_"Just once?"_

_"Hungry!" _

_"Now now, you two stop fighting..." Ross turned around and a hand went to tug at his headband sheepishly. _

_"Aw, Marta... you know he could do better!" _

_"But he says he's hungry, so let him eat," Marta argued, setting a tray of food on the ground. Roy dove at it and started to stuff bread in his mouth at a furious pace, and Marta laughed and sat opposite of him, ruffling his hair. "Well you're hungry aren't you?" she asked, and he nodded vigorously before picking up the bowl of soup and glugging down the contents. Ross sat beside Marta and started fiddling with her long blonde hair. She flicked her head sideways and smacked him lightly in the face with her hair, and he laughed, plucking a flower out of the ground and tossing it at her face. Roy stared at them both and started gagging. They shot him nasty glances until he started to choke on the bread he had tried to swallow and gagged for real, grabbing his throat and falling backwards into the lake as they got up to try to help him. Ross tossed off his jacket and kicked off his shoes, jumping into the lake after Roy as Marta leaned over the stone step guard nervously. Ross dragged Roy back to shore and threw him on the bank, struggling up behind him, and Marta leaned over Roy, only to discover that Roy had recovered from his choking fit and was now trying to cough up a fish. She giggled and grabbed Roy's neck, keeping him still as she took a knife and stabbed the fish, drawing it out of Roy's mouth and onto the ground, and killed it. Roy stuck out his tongue; he didn't like fish._

_Ross got on all fours and glared at them, shaking himself off like a dog, spraying water all over them. His hair, sufficiently free of water, poofed out, earning another glare. "Now my hairs all poofed out! Look what you've done."_

_"It's not my fault!" Roy said, hiding behind Marta for defense. Ross could get cranky when his hair was poofed. Marta put an arm around Roy's neck and held him close. "You wouldn't hurt our poor little Roy, would you Windsor?"_

_"No, of course not... I'm going to STRANGLE him!" Ross yelled, jumping at Roy. They scuffled for a little while, leading to a thoroughly dirty Roy with his face pressed against the ground, hard. Ross got up, the victor. "I win!" he said, basking in his glory. He stretched out onthe grass and yawned wide, basking in the sun instead of his glory, and Marta poked him in the head with her sandal. _

_"Hey, come on, get up... you can't sit around forever."_

_"Ah, come on, Marta, I've got my whole life to do stuff... let's just relax for once. And one thing..." He got up on one knee and pulled a box from his jacket pocket. "Marta... will you marry me?"_

* * *

_Roy's dream went back to the battlefield scene, the scene where Ross was dying and holding out the box to him. "Give it to Marta... it was... it was supposed to be... our first... anniversary..."_

_"But where Ross? I don't know where..."_

_"She was a very... _special _lady... Marta..."_

* * *

_Marta was leaning over Roy's bed and kissed his forehead. "Good night, Roy, sleep tight..." He was only eight years old, and he reached out to touch Marta's face. "Good night, Marta..."_

_"Why don't you call us mommy and daddy?"_

_"But you're not my mommy and daddy."_

_"I know... okay... well... good-night, Roy." She kissed his forehead again and Roy wondered why she had looked so sad. _

_"Can I see Ross too, Marta?"_

_She nodded and Ross stepped in as well, sitting down beside him on the bed. He patted the side of Roy's face and grinned. "What's up, little guy? Sleeping okay every night?" Roy nodded and checked to see if Marta was listening. _

_"When are you and Marta getting married, Ross?"_

_"I don't know... what with all the problems in the military... maybe not for a long time. I haven't been around much... you know that."_

_"I know... I missyou when you're gone, Ross. I play with Marta, but it's just not the same."_

_"Yep... I miss you at work too... just not the same as being at home playing with you, buddy. I try to come home when I can, though." He paused for a moment. "Do you miss your parents, Roy?"_

_"Yeah... but they can't come back. You keep coming back, Ross."_

_"Mm-hmm. And I'll keep coming back until you don't need me anymore, when you come of age and leave the house." He kissed Roy's temple and patted Roy's chest gently. "Night, kiddo."_

_"Good night, Ross."_

* * *

"_Ross, I'm joining Special Operations."_

_"Spec Ops? But Marta, that's dangerous!"_

_Roy paused in shoveling food into his mouth, fork halfway between his mouth and the plate, a forkful of eggs teetering on the edge of falling onto the table. Ross frowned and put down the Central Times, looking up at Marta from his seat at the table. _

_"I've made up my mind, and besides... I can't just let you work for the three of us..."_

_"But it's dangerous!"_

_"And it's becoming hard to live just on your paycheck," Marta continued over him. It was true, things had become hard since the riots in Ishbal had started... the eggs on Roy's plate weren't even average by health rating, and the bread was a bit old, borderline stale. He crammed the fork in his mouth; he was thirteen, he was hungry! Food was food to him. _

_"I can try harder, Marta! If I really impress them, if I work extra hard on my research, I bet they'll give me a raise!" Roy said through a mouthful of eggs. Being a thirteen year old State Alchemist and prodigy of the State wasn't easy. He should have started earlier... he had asked Ross whenhe was ten, but Ross hadn't let him. Marta shook her head and hugged him tightly against her chest. "No no, I couldn't ask you to work any harder than you already have... you've been a big help too, Roy..." _

_Marta had been stretching both Roy and Ross's paycheck as far as it could go to support the three of them. Times were tough, and the only thing to do now was to get another earner in their household._

_"But... Marta, it's dangerous... please, at least reconsider."_

_"I've made up my mind Ross... we're leaving next week."_

_Roy nearly choked on his juice, and looked up at her, juice all over his face. Marta sighed and got hold of his face, wiping it with a napkin as he coughed and spluttered. "Marta! Why are you leaving? They haven't told anyone else to leave."_

_"Well... Special Operations goes undercover to see if there's an actual threat. They won't send in soldiers and alchemists until later."_

_Ross sighed and sipped at his coffee, his mind obviously on other things. _

_"We'll just have to have the best last week together that we can."_

* * *

"_You're really leaving, aren't you?" Ross whispered, and Marta nodded resolutely, brushing her long golden hair out one more time. Her black suitcase was on the floor by the door, sparsely packed with only the essentials and ready to go in the morning. Ross hesitated for a moment, stepping closer to her, then hugged her tightly from behind. "I have a bad feeling about this war, Marta."_

_She nodded and held her hair tightly in one hand, drawing a dagger from a strap holster and shearing it short so that all the hair left on her head was cropped near her head, save a blonde strand that hung in her face. _

_"I do too, Windsor."_

_Roy watched them both from the bed, then looked back at it. Ross and Marta's bed. Except, Marta wouldn't be there anymore, she was leaving tomorrow morning. For Ishbal. He had talked to Maes about it that morning; Maes was going to join as soon as he was old enough, and Roy would be in Ishbal too. They would be there together, but now Roy had to make sure he held up his end of their bargain. _

_"I want to fight too!"_

_Ross and Marta looked back and stared at him, and both of them shook their heads. _

_"Not now!" Roy cried, "When I'm older!"_

_Ross still was adamant on shaking his head, but Marta paused thoughtfully. "Maybe when you're sixteen, Roy, but not until then." Ross stared at her incredulously and she leaned over to whisper something in his ears. He sighed loudly and his shoulders hunched; Ross's sign of defeat. Roy had never been more happy to see it. He turned and looked at Roy again. "When you're sixteen, you can fight; but don't think I'll let you fight as an alchemist."_

* * *

Roy gasped and his eyes flew open, his arms wrapping around whatever was nearest. In this case, it was Riza. She jumped slightly, startled, then realized it was him and shushed him, trying to calm him down. Sweat beaded on his face but his breathing calmed and his heart stopped pounding quite so hard. He groaned and lay back down again, and Riza stopped him from lying comfortably. 

"What happened? What was it?"

"Nothing," Roy lied.

"Nothing doesn't make you jump in your sleep screaming like a madman."

He had been screaming? For what...? Oh. That. That very last picture, right after the bedroom... those crazy narrow eyes, the greasy hair, the alchemist's palms...

He shuddered and huddled against Riza for support, and she decided it was best to say nothing, to let Roy sort it out for himself and decide when he was ready to tell her all she needed to know. She sighed and got up after stroking his hair for a few minutes and making sure he was sound asleep before getting up and waiting with Luna for Jean to come.

She waited.

1 o' clock, and Jean still hadn't come.

This was unusually bad timing, even for Jean Havoc. Especially for Jean Havoc, who kept it a point of business to always be on time... the phone rang and she ran to answer it, picking it up and holding it to her ear. There was choked gasp from the other end; it was Jean.

"R-Riza? R-Roy? Are you there, please tell me you're there? Oh God!" He gave a strangled scream from the other end and Riza flinched. Roy's eyes were open again and he bounded up from the couch, taking the phone from Riza. "Jean? Jean, what's wrong?"

"J-...Just... oh God... Just come here, to my house... Oh my GOD, WHY?" It sounded like he had thrown the phone down, just not into the reciever, and was sobbing on the floor some ways away. Riza held Luna against her chest tightly, then asked her to go upstairs and play with Junior some more. Roy called up the stairs that he and Riza were going out, and to be good and please not burn down the house while they were gone.

Riza stopped in front of the Havoc household where military vehicles were lined up and tape was strewn around the perimeter. Roy and Riza entered the house and found Jean on the floor curled around something protectively, as if using his own body as a shield. Roy put his hand on his friend's shoulder gently and Jean snarled wrathfully, unwilling to unwind himself. Maes stepped in behind Roy and Riza, a gun in his hand, and he fired it into Havoc's back. Jean writhed for a second before falling backwards onto the floor.

"Tranquilized," Maes said simply, but Roy's eyes only had room for the mess on the floor.

There on the floor lay the body of Keira Havoc, and Roy could hear the baby, J.J, wailing pitifully in the corner.


	29. PART 2 : Holiday Party

**_HEIR TO THE FLAME_**

**_PART 2_**

**_CHAPTER 29: HOLIDAY PARTY_**

"Maes... there's just one problem with your ingenious plan..." Roy muttered as his best friend was once again popping hearts out everywhere and straightening Roy's tie. "What? I think I worked all the bugs out of it, Roy. Now take a look at yourself, isn't that the best you've looked in years!" Roy looked at himself rather reluctantly in the mirror. "Well... it's... different."

Maes had managed to stuff him into a black suit with a white undershirt and a red tie. Somehow. It had looked entirely too small to Roy when he had looked at it. Go figure. More hearts from Maes's head meant that he thought it was good. Roy turned and examined the back in the mirror. "Perfect, Maes... now how about some pants, eh?"

"I was working on it! You know, you really need to go shopping for clothes..."

"I don't know if they look alright or not on me..."

"Take your wife with you, idiot!"

"Ahh... but she's never available."

"Why?"

"Housework, something or the other. She's not a shopping type of lady, you know that Maes."

"So who do you take with you?"

"Junior..." Roy sighed.

"No wonder you always have stains on your clothes..."

"Shut up, Maes."

Maes rummaged around in Roy's closet, throwing out article after article of clothing. "I can't help but wonder what's keeping her so busy..." Maes muttered.

"She has a lot to do!" Roy said defensively. "I mean, she's been getting the house ready for the holidays, and she's had to deal with Junior, me, and get invitations out to the staff. Besides, she said we'll go shopping for clothes after the holidays."

"I got one! One that doesn't have stains on it anyway..." he directed an evil look at Roy and Roy frowned back.

"Just hand them over so I can put them on!" Maes handed them over and Roy put them on, looking in the mirror again. "Not bad Maes... not bad," he admitted, and Maes glowed. Maes couldn't dress up for every day life, sure, but he sure as hell could for parties. Maes tossed him a comb and pointed at Roy's hair. "You know what the only thing left to fix is, don't you...?"

"Do I have to?" Roy groaned, and Maes nodded vigorously. "Of course! You'll have to do it for parties! You have to comb out your hair at least once a year you know," he said, picking at his friend. Roy directed a glare at him. "I do comb my hair," he muttered. "I just mess it up by the time I get to work..."

"In a car?" Maes asked incredulously.

"I walk!" Roy growled at him, getting more and more irritated the more he combed back his hair. Maes clapped his hands together. "Perfect! Now for the test! Junior!" he called outside.

Roy Junior got up from the floor where he was messing with his mini-flamegloves. Roy had found it necessary to fire-proof his entire mansion because of his son. The twoyear old dusted off his pants and ran to the door, his jacket and tie askew. Maes bent down and straightened it before moving out of the way. "Now how does your dad look?"

"Daddy looks good!" he said, jumping at Roy. Roy picked him up and swung him around a bit. "Hey little guy... who put you in the suit?"

"Momma! Momma looks good too! She's pretty..."

"Really? As usual I suppose, or more than usual?"

"More."

"Okay then. Are you going to wear your gloves?"

"Yep! I wanna look like you. Your hair looks funny, Daddy."

Roy Junior looked almost exactly like his father, only smaller, louder, and cuter. Obviously.

Roy sighed again. "I had to comb it, and now I have to comb yours. Why didn't your mom comb it?"

" 'Cause I ran away before she could, and Momma didn't wanna climb the stairs. Will Nii-san be here too?"

Roy chuckled and started to comb back Junior's hair. "Yeah, Ed will be here. Why?" Junior was quite taken with Ed, and always called him Nii-san. "I just wanted to know. Will Uncle Havoc be here too?"

"Yes, and Uncles Breda, Fuery, and Falman. You already know Uncle Maes will be here."

"Yeah!" He jumped from Roy's arms and onto Maes who cried out in surprise and caught him. "Will Elysia be here too, Uncle Maes? I wanted to play, but Daddy said Momma was busy and not to call anyone over, and I couldn't go over because Daddy said he was having fun with Momma and wouldn't take me."

Maes raised an eyebrow at Roy and Roy groaned. "Junior..." he said, one hand over his face.

"What? That's what you said!"

"Well, Elysia's going to come with Auntie Gracia, so don't you worry."

"Great! Is Uncle Jean bringing Luna, Daddy?"

"Yes."

"Waaaaah..."

"Why? I thought you liked Luna?" Roy said.

"Yeah, but whenever Elysia and Luna are together they start fighting over me... it's no fun."

Maes's face darkened and Roy Junior looked up at him. "What's wrong Uncle Maes? Did I say something wrong?"

Maes glared at Roy. "He's already a womanizer, Roy!"

Roy chuckled and smirked at Maes. "Seems like he's already in demand, Maes." He took his son back from Maes and put him on the floor. "Why don't you go get Momma so I can see her, eh? Go on," he said, pushing Roy Junior in the doorway.Little Roy raised his finger. "I don't have to, Momma's right here!" he sang, ducking behind Roy again.

Roy whistled. "Riza... you're looking downright sexy tonight," he said, grinning. Maes and Junior took this as their cue to leave as Maes whipped out pictures and Junior scrambled at him, saying that he wanted to see. Maes was in heaven, someone who actually wanted to see his pictures!

Riza put her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. "You're not looking like a disaster for once."

"Oh ha ha. I don't look like a disaster all the time."

"You do after you get out of bed."

"So do you."

"And who's fault is that?"

"Probably mine."

"Exactly." She buried her face into his neck.

"I'm just kidding," she murmured. "You always look nice."

"I don't think I need to tell you that you do too. You look beautiful, every single day. How do you do it?"

"Maybe it's not me so much as it is your perception, hmm?"

"Possibly... but you do look... stunning."

She let go of him and turned in a circle on the spot. "You like my dress?" she asked, and Roy coughed. Liked? He was absolutely smitten with it.

"You know my favorite color is red..."

"And I also know that you can never resist dresses that show off my chest, so I got something you'd like." Roy sighed.

"How am I going to stop my nose from bleeding...? You didn't think of that, did you?"

"Oops... heehee..."

"Nevermind that... I think I've controlled my nosebleeds by now, what with you as my wife... Is everything set up?"

"Yes, Mr.Mustang, it is."

"Well, you've been a busy Mrs.Mustang, haven't you?" he laughed, pressing his forehead against hers. She raised her eyebrow at him.

"Maybe if you'd helped I wouldn't be so tired, and this dressfeelstight around my stomach." She said it in a meaningful way, but Roy didn't seem to catch it.

"Looks fine to me..."

She sighed heavily. Men never understood what being subtle was about. She turned away quickly and crossed her arms underneath her breasts, and Roy wondered what on earth he had said to upset her this time.

"Riza, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing!"

"Something's wrong. Was it something I said?"

"Of course not."

"But then what is it? I don't understand."

"You never do," she sniffed.

Roy was feeling utterly sorry for himself. This was the one woman he just couldn't understand, the one he was married to!

"Tell me then!"

"No!"

And God,was she stubborn.

"Please?"

"No!"

Then the doorbell rang, and he looked at Riza, then down the six flights of steps. Then at her again, and back at the steps. And once more.

"Riza?"

"I'm coming!" she groaned, slowly going down the steps, which confused Roy even more.

"Please tell me!" he begged on the way down the stairs. She turned her face again and muttered an obstinate 'no'. But God did she look cute when she did that, was Roy's thought. He thought that maybe now he had an idea of one reason why she was mad, but not more than one.

He sighed and gave up, running down the stairs in front of her to answer the door. It was freezing out there and he didn't want to keep anyone from waiting too long. Black Hayate and Belcini, both sitting in front of the door and wagging their tails expectantly yipped at him. He petted them both on their heads briefly before opening the door, letting a frozen Ed and Al stumble in, snow blowing in behind them. "Nii-san!" Junior cried from the stairs by Riza, bounding down the rest of the steps to meet him.

"Kitty Nii-san!" he said, hugging Al's metal leg. Roy ruffled Junior's hair, but not so much as to mess up his hair again. "Kitty Nii-san?"

"I can't call him Nii-san because that's Nii-san," he explained, pointing to Ed, "So I call him Kitty Nii-san because he always has kitties with him!"

"That explains a lot," he said, lifting Ed to his feet.

"It's a good thing I was in the area, or I wouldn't have gotten the invitation. It's pretty nice of you, Colonel."

"Now who said I couldn't be nice once in a while?" Roy shot back at Ed. "Besides, I knew Junior would be sad if he didn't get a visit from his 'Nii-san' during the holidays."

Al was dumping the snow out of his armor through a window and picking the kitties out of it one by one. "I brought the whole Wedding Cat Chorus!" he said, showing them to Roy and Riza. They were dressed in decorative scarves, hats, and coats.

There was another knock on the door and Roy opened it again, only to be dogpiled by the rest of his subordinates sans Havoc, who had made an intellectually beneficial decision and stayed behind the rest of them with his daughter Luna and son, Jean Junior a.k.a J.J, in his arms.

"Didn't want to get dogpiled with Luna and J.Jin my arms," he explained. Roy let his bumbling subordinates inside to warm up, all of them dressed in either suits or festives.

Jean and Luna were opposites, Jean wearing a suit while Luna wore her festive outfit. J.J was outfitted in standard warm baby clothes, though they weredecorated with a snowflake or two sewn in them.Roy took a look at Riza. "Are we missing anyone?"

"Well... there is your mother, my grandfather, my father, my brother, and your uncle and your cousin. Not to mention that Gracia and Elysia aren't here yet."

Roy slapped a hand to his face. "Of course! I forgot!

"And one thing, Al... why are you still in that suit of armor?"

Al jumped from inside the armor. "Uhhhh... we haven't had much luck with the stone, Colonel. It keeps a lot of the cold out too, until it starts to seep inside, and it's the best way to carry the rest of the chorus."

"And Winry isn't here yet, and neither is Armstrong," Riza added. Roy shuddered. "Is she still mad at me... for... you know..." Roy's face had darkened and had a bit of a haggard look to it. Riza took his arm and shook her head. "Of course not. We discussed that already, remember. She doesn't blame you for her parents, Roy."

"If you say so..."

"Daddy! Momma! Stop talking and set a fire already, it's cold..."

"Okay, okay, I'm coming," Roy called. He sat Riza down on the couch and fished his gloves out of his pockets, slipping them on. Junior waved his hands in the air. "Can I try first, Daddy? Can I? Can I? Pleeeease?"

Roy waved at the log. "Go ahead then, but if you can't then I'll light it."

"Deal!" Junior said, snapping the fingers of his mini-gloves. There was a tiny spark but nothing happened, and Junior scowled. "One more time," he said, looking back at Roy. He snapped again and this time the log caught on fire, crackling in the fireplace. Everyone who had come in from the snow huddled around the fire, trying to get warm.

The party went well, with everyone warm and happy, even Fullmetal couldn't complain. Roy chatted with him quite amicably without once referring to his height, and Ed enjoyed the Colonel's company for once. Just this once.

Alphonse liked talking to Riza, however, and talked to her about having to care and watch out for their elders more than they did. She liked Alphonse, he was very easy to relate to, and very warmhearted, which was why Junior preferred him to Edward, who was often jumpy and irritable.

Jean smiled sadly; it was always a sad smile ever since Keira had died, only two days before, but the party did cheer him up a little... it was the holidays, after all. He couldn't afford to be sad on the holidays, it would upset his children. About halfway through the party he said he felt ill and left, promising to pick up Luna and J.J in the morning, or the afternoon at least, and left. Roy talked with his uncle, who checked his arm over with Vergo to make sure there weren't any reactions to the metal, and, satisfied, slapped him good-naturedly on the back.

Junior whined when Luna and Elysia, now at the party, proceeded to fight over who would play with him, going so far as to jump on each other and start fighting. Luna won, of course, being the sturdier-built of the two, even though she was younger. Elysia got her back when she bit Luna on the wrist and Luna yelped, leaping off Elysia.

Junior, by this time, had retreated to sit in Roy's lap and stroke Belcini. Roy put Junior on the couch for a second and went to answer the door, smiling as he saw his mother and kissing her on the cheek. "Glad you could come, Mom."

"I'm just glad to be home again. Well, in my old home."

"It's one and the same, Mom, don't worry about it."

By midnight, Maes was flashing pictures of Elysia at their last vacation for anyone who was still awake or sober enough to care. Roy sure wasn't.

Riza made sure he didn't cause any trouble in his drunken state by knocking him out with the butt of her gun and sitting on him, which was much applauded by the Elrics and the rest of the party.

Maes, of course, wasted no time in taking more pictures.

* * *

Please note that this is PART 2, and that this may just be the last lighthearted chapter for a while. From now on the story is taking a darker turn, and you have been warned! 

-T A

also... happy holidays everyone! I've been waiting to use this chapter as the holiday contribution chapter, so here it is. Have fun, and let's hope that Roy doesn't kill Maes in the morning.


	30. Friendly Fire

**HEIR TO THE FLAME**

**CHAPTER 30: Friendly Fire**

Jean Havoc was sent to the infirmary for constant bedrest and a continual flow of sedatives until he could actively control his grief. Roy did not interfere with the order, seeing that he would only be unhelpful to a man grieving over the death of his wife of three years, mother of two children. Jean spent a lot of the time staring up at the ceiling, blank faced and bleak, his daughter, Luna, resting her chin on the edge of his infirmary bed on his left side and J.J held against his chest tightly. Neither Luna nor J.J really understood what had happened; Luna had not been there, was too young to understand death, and J.J, who _had _been there could not relay what had happened. J.J just snuggled against Jean's chest, thumb in his mouth, wailing pitifully for his mother every now and then. When it became apparent that she wouldn't come, he stopped and wailed very little, usually when he wanted attention from Jean, who would give it sparingly.

Roy was unable to console his friend and was downright moody in the office, still mulling over Keira's tragic and untimely death. Who would want to kill the wife of a soldier, a soldier as harmless as Jean Havoc? Well, Havoc wasn't exactly harm_less, _but he wasn't overly harmful. He couldn't possibly hurt anyone like he could...

That had to be it! He slammed his palms down on the desk, causing Riza to jump in her own desk, papers falling onto the floor. She bent down to pick them up and Roy paced to and fro behind his desk, spinning to look outside anxiously, then at Riza.

"First Lieutenant, send a notice around the office to double security on their families. That goes for my home as well, and Major General Durandal." Riza saluted, her hand wavering, wanting to ask what was wrong, _why _they needed advanced security, but Roy said nothing. He did, however, swipe the keys off of his desk, peck her cheek quickly, and fairly run out of the room to the car. He gave no reason for leaving work so early and got in his car, starting it up and driving like a madman to the outskirts of East City.

Junior opened the door to the porch and stepped out cautiously, his cat Belcini padding out after him followed by the pup Buraha. There was a book tucked under his little arm that his father had told him to read, and Junior had taken it dutifully and made it sworn duty to find a comfy spot on the estate to sit himself down and read it. Now that he thought about it, the book was awfully heavy. He found a swinging seat that gave a good view of East City. Daddy worked in East City. He liked East City.

He hauled himself up onto the swinging chair and patted the cushion next to him. Buraha yipped and jumped up next to him, licking his face. Junior giggled and petted Buraha, let Belcini off his neck, and opened the book to the first page. It was a strange book... you could put more pages into it.

Page one... Royteran Mustang... sounded like Daddy. The first of the Mustang line, known to have walked the land even before the country of Amestris was founded... chief of the prestigious Flame Clan... oooh... may have possibly been the strongest Mustang to date. Cool.

Page two... page three... page four...

Page one hundred and seventy-three. Roy Mustang the Third, aka Roy Glenn Mustang, last member of the Flame Clan before it was wiped out, bachelor... this was smudged out roughly and replaced with 'married'. Flame Alchemist for the military, the one hundred and seventy first generation of the Mustang family to be enrolled in the military. Orphaned at ten, adopted, then orphaned again at nineteen, came of age at twenty-five and inherited the Mustang Estate and family fortune.

Wooooooow. Cooooool. But now he was tired, and he stretched, petting Buraha and scratching Belcini's stomach. He got up from the swingie chair and went back inside, book still under his arm. He pushed a wooden chair across the tile floors, wood scraping against the tiles, and clambered on top of it, opening the cupboard by stretching out and standing on his tiptoes. His little hands found a box and he pulled it out, then made a face. Crackers, he didn't want crackers. He tossed the box to the floor and Buraha yipped in alarm, catching the box in his mouth and placing it on the ground safely. Belcini caught the next jar thrown down in his kitty paws and rolled it onto the floor gingerly, and Junior found what he was looking for.

Cookies!

He took two and put the box back where he could more easily reach it, then picked up the boxes and jars he had thrown down, replacing them as best as he could. He looked outside again and saw clouds gathering. Funny, he hadn't noticed them while he was reading... looked like a thunderstorm.

There was a banging on the door and Junior froze. What was that? Nobody wanted Daddy in the middle of the morning; everybody knew he was at work. Belcini mewed, fur standing on end, and Black Hayate growled, hackles rising. He ran to the stairs and was halfway up the first flight when the door was knocked in, crashing to the floor. A transmutation circle lit up on the floor momentarily, illuminating the doorway fully, then faded away.

Roy bit his lip at the steering wheel, cursing as the light turned red and screeched to a halt. He hissed in breath again as he felt a sharp pain in his wrist and he pulled his glove off of his hand, examining it, then cursing loudly again, panicked. He couldn't afford to wait any longer. He put his foot down on the gas and the car roared to life, dodging incoming traffic and avoiding near collisions. The side of his car grated along the side of another; the paint had to be sacrificed, oh well. He wasn't going to mourn over it right now.

Junior gave a frightened gasp in his throat as the man in the doorway looked up at him and lightning arced towards him. Junior gave a frightened cry and bolted up the stairs as fast as he could, Belcini and Black Hayate behind him, the book still under his arm. He was up the sixth floor stairs, he heard the man behind him, maybe one floor down, pounding up the stairs. Frightened tears started to form in Junior's eyes and he sniffed, starting up the seventh floor stairs.

Roy's car was totaled in a ditch, with Roy running as fast as he could down the remaining stretch of driveway to the estate, his feet passing over the busted door. The transmutation circle glowed brightly again and all the doors in the house closed, locking and bolting, and the stairs sank into themselves, becoming slick and impossible to climb. As Roy's shoes touched the stairs they became steps and he ascended quickly, feet pounding on the steps, taking them two and three at a time.

On the eighth floor, Junior was backed up against the wall, Belcini and Black Hayate standing their ground in front of him, hissing, spitting, and growling as the figure came closer and closer, electricity dancing in his hands. Junior hiccuped, terrified, tears still in his eyes, and the man raised his hand, electricity forming a ball in his hand.

Roy heard the barking and mewing and kicked in the door and snapped, flames shooting from his hands and at the intruder, exploding and catapulting him away from Junior. He burned a circle into the floor and constructed a cage around the intruder and left him there. He wouldn't wake up for a while anyway. Then he bent down by Junior and hugged him tightly against his chest, letting Junior sniffle and cry into his chest. Belcini mewed and climbed up onto Roy's shoulder, and Black Hayate pawed at Junior's pant leg, whining.

"Sssh... it's okay, I'm here now... it's okay..." Junior looked up at him and sniffed again. "Is he dead?" he asked, pointing at the man in the cage. Roy shook his head and picked up Junior, but did not pause to examine the man in the cage. He'd come back. He walked down the steps to the ground floor and found his phone, dialing the number for East HQ. A woman picked up.

"Hello, Eastern Command Headquarters, how mayI help you?"

"This is Colonel Mustang, I need Warrant Officer Falman and First Lieutenant Hawkeye over here as quickly as possible. I have a man here who needs to be held for interrogation. Send word to Lieutenant Colonel Hughes of a possible arrest at the Mustang Estate, if you will. He can bring whoever he sees fit."

"Yes Sir, I'll send the First Lieutenant and the Warrant Officer over now."

Roy put down thephone and left the door where it had been smashed in; it would be evidence later, he supposed. He held Junior on his hip and stroked his hair gently, still murmuring soothing words into his ear. Junior calmed after a little while, and half an hour later Falman and Riza had arrived in a military vehicle driven by a thoroughly depressed looking Havoc. Roy thought it best not to comment at the moment, but made a personal note to check up on his friend that night. Junior checked that no one else was around, and when he was satisfied he leaped out of Roy's arms and into Riza's, sobbing into her neck. Falman patted Junior's back briefly and turned to Roy.

"What on earth happened here, Sir? It looks like a classic case of King Kong breaking and entering. I mean..." he fingered the splintered door and the ripped hinges. "These were torn apart! And I don't think the door would have been made out of cheap wood..."

"Pure marble, the hinges were made of the strongest steel you can find nowadays."

"Damn, a marble door... there's a lot of power used here to rip it so forcefully from the house itself... what are we dealing with here, Colonel?"

"I dunno, but he's locked up on the eighth floor; he tried to murder my son. I think he might also have a hand in Keira Havoc's death." Jean's stare burned into him from the car, as if his eyes were aflame, and he bounded out of the car and up the stairs without invitation. Roy cursed and ran after him, Riza and Falman close behind. "Hurry!" he said. "If Havoc gets up there... he might be angry enough to..."

"I'm way ahead of you," Riza murmured, cocking the stun gun at her waist. If Havoc was going to be difficult, then he would have to opt for the difficult way to go to sleep.

Junior on the other hand, was left standing on the porch, and he was quite lonely. He peeked over into the car and his face broke into a smile. "Hiya, Luna!" Luna crawled over to the car window and said hi.

"Roy, how come my daddy's been acting funny?"

"I dunno... where's your mommy?"

"I don't know, when I got home she wasn't there anymore, and Daddy was crying in his room." She paused for a minute. "It was scary... I've never seen Daddy cry before, not even he got shot on accident. But it wasn't a real gun... not a big one. See, he was holding his gun cause he had to go on some mission for your daddy, and J.J goes and crawls to him and Daddy picks him up and he bites Daddy on his shoulder. It must've hurt because I heard him say 'ow', and there was a big bang and Mommy screamed, and then Daddy was on the ground holding his foot. It was pretty funny at first, but then this red stuff starting coming out and it wasn't funny anymore, because Mommy started to cry, and then J.J started to cry, but Daddy didn't cry. He just got up on one foot and hopped into his room and Mommy followed him, and they took the bullet out and bandaged up Daddy's foot. Look, I have the bullet still." She held up a bullet threaded in a necklace.

"That's the bullet that was in your daddy's foot?"

"Yup! You know what? J.J's sad too, but I don't know why because he won't tell me. Or maybe he does, but I just can't understand him. He just learned how to say Mommy, but he keeps crying and saying it over and over again, and I don't get it, and Daddy gets sad again and picks him up and hugs him and I still don't get it!" Luna huffed, crossing her arms and slumping in the backseat of the car.

"Nobody tells me anything." She looked up at Junior with her big blue eyes. "Roy, do you think Mommy will come back?"

Junior nodded confidantly. "Of course she will! Mommies and Daddies always come back, don't they? Even though they say they'll be gone, they always come back." Luna nodded and hugged J.J, who had gone to sleep with his thumb in his mouth.She pulled it out of his mouth and J.J muttered something before snuggling on her.

Havoc pulled out his gun and aimed at the man in the cage, unable to think properly, the only words registering in his head being 'Revenge for Keira' over and over again. Roy burst through the door yet again and tackled Havoc, sending him head over heels onto the floor and struggling against his friend, trying to wrestle the gun away from him. Riza cursed, her gun wavering; she couldn't shoot, she might hit Roy.

"Jean, Jean stop it! What are you doing?" Roy hissed, trying to pin Jean's wrists to the floor. Jean's head was thrust forward quickly, smashing into Roy's forehead and sending him sprawling backwards onto the floor. It took a few seconds to regain his senses, but once he did, he jumped on Jean again, hand going for his gun wrist again, forcing it down to his side. They were on the floor again, Roy struggling with Jean's gun hand and Jean in a fire-eyed fury, unwilling to give up his revenge.

"He's going to pay, pay for Keira's death!" Roy didn't have any kind of advantage over Jean Havoc; He couldn't use his alchemy on a friend, and especially not in such close proximities, Jean was possibly a whole half a foot or more taller than him, heavier than him by another twenty pounds at the least, and in a maddening state of grief, and grief gave him the strength to kill.

"Think of your children, Jean! You'll be a murderer, think of them!" Jean seemed to pause for a split-second, his eyes seemed to clear for an instant, and Roy took this second to roll over and send Jean into the floor, pinning his arms behind his back. Jean shook once and broke one arm free, backhanding Roy roughly, and Roy punched him back.

In the scuffling, Riza raised her gun and a bang echoed in the room. The blood drained from her face and from Falman's as well, and he clutched her forearm tightly, mouth working silently. Riza stared at her gun, at the gun in her hands, and at the bloody mess that was Roy on the floor. He was laying on his side, blood forming a large puddle around him as it spread slowly onto the floor, his face obscured by his hair. But it wasn't her gun that was smoking. Jean's eyes were wide and the color gone from his face as well, and he hurled the gun away from himself, smashing it on the wall. He crawled over to Roy, lifting his upper body, and he looked at Riza and Vato. "Roy... Roy... hurry! HELP HIM!" His hand was pressed against Roy's chest, stemming the blood loss, and hopeless tears of frustration welled up in his eyes. "Dammit Roy... I-I didn't mean to... I didn't... hang on... don't die on me!Don't you die on me, Roy!"

Junior and Luna looked up as Jean bolted out of the house with Roy in his arms, bloodstained and disheveled. "Luna, take J.J and get into the front seat, quickly!"

"Daddy?"

"Go!"

Luna picked up J.J and scrambled to the passenger seat, and Jean lay Roy down on the back seat, hand still pressed against his chest. Using the other hand, he ripped a large strip of his work shirt and balled it up as best as he could, pressing it against Roy's chest too.

He looked at Riza, who's face was still bloodless and white as a sheet, and he couldn't meet her eyes. "When will Central be here?" he asked, looking at the ground by her feet. She didn't answer, only sank to her knees and gave a despairing wail, arms crossed over her stomach. Junior ran to his mother and threw his arms around her neck, and she pressed him tightly against her chest.

"They're coming now," Vato said, pointing up the road. Cars from Central were zooming down the road, the first presumably Maes who was concerned for his best friend's well being. Maes slammed the brakes and jumped out of the car, his arms waving around. He wasn't in uniform; today must have been his day off. Elysia confirmed that as she rubbed her eyes and looked around, wondering why they were at Uncle Roy's house.

"Where's Roy?" he asked. He didn't like the way Riza was sitting on the ground and weeping, or the way that Falman was standing as if he didn't know what to do. Falman lifted a finger and pointed to the car, and Maes ran over to stand beside Jean, trying to peek in.

"Dear God... what happened? Who did this?"

Jean shuddered. "I did it." Maes looked at him incredulously.

"Right, nice one, Jean, but really... oh my God... you're serious..." Jean nodded silently. "...Why, Jean? Why'd you shoot him?"

"I didn't... I didn't mean to! I didn't, I didn't... please believe me, Maes!" he cried, but Maes's head was bowed and he shook momentarily before raising his fist and punching Jean in the face. Jean shook from the impact, but didn't flinch. He had been expecting it.

"Dammit, Jean, what on earth could have made you pull the trigger on your own friend!"

"Daddy didn't mean to! He said he didn't mean to, it was an accident!" Luna cried from the front seat, and Maes's face softened. "There are no such things as accidents... why were you pointing it at him?"

"We were fighting... he jumped me from behind and we started scuffling, and then... then he was holding my wrist and the gun was pointed at his chest, and he kind of kneed me in my stomach and my finger twitched on the trigger and... it went off..."

"God... how am I going to explain this one..." Maes muttered. "A Second Lieutenant firing on his Colonel... you could be executed for this, Jean!"

"I know," Jean said miserably.

"Unless Roy testifies that it wasn't your fault, if he's even _alive_, Military Command will put you to death!"


	31. Searching

**HEIR TO THE FLAME**

**CHAPTER 31:**

"Daddy, what's wrong with Uncle Roy?" Luna asked, tugging at Jean's arm. Jean put his face in his hands and groaned through his teeth, then put his hands on Luna's shoulders.

"Daddy did something very bad to Uncle Roy. I hurt him, Luna, I hurt him bad."

"But why?"

"I was angry... and I shouldn't have been. He was trying to help."

"Will he be okay?"

"I don't know." Jean looked at his fallen friend again, lying on the bed limp but still warm, still breathing. He was sitting next to the bed, mulling over what he had done. How could he possibly call himself Roy's friend, how could Roy even consider him a friend after this? "Roy... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." But when had sorry ever been enough? He looked up as Maes entered the room, knocking at the door, and Elysia ran up to the bed to look at Roy as well. She stood on her tiptoes and frowned, then kissed his forehead. She looked at Jean. "Daddy says when you kiss someone when they're hurt they'll get all better. It works too! It always works on me! I hope Uncle Roy gets better soon."

Junior was standing just outside the door, and his eyes had a hunted look to them, a look that should not have been in the eyes of a three year old; he looked older, much older. Luna went out to Junior and he looked at her with an oddly detached look, a faraway glance in his eyes, his obsidian eyes suddenly snapping into focus and boring holes into her blue ones. "How is he?" He asked, hands in his pockets.

"He looks okay.. but I don't know."

"Okay. I'll be fine out here," he said quickly before Luna could ask if he wanted to go in and see Roy. "I... need to do something. I'll be back later!" he ran away from her and out the door of Jean's house, skidding on the slick grass and putting his feet firmly on hard pavement, his little feet pounding down the sidewalk. His eyes did not have the frightened look of a child in them, but the determined light of an adult.

It seemed to be a curse of the Mustang family.

Huffing and puffing he slammed to a halt in the middle of Central Square, looking around for a house, a particular house. He pushed open a heavy wooden door and rapped loudly on the counter since he wasn't tall enough to push the bell. "Uncle! Uncle! Uncle Armstrong! Uncle Armstrong!" Armstrong appeared from the side of the door and looked around before looking down.

"Ho ho... what do you need, little Colonel?" he said fondly, ruffling Roy's hair.

"I need you... I need you to... take me to Nii-San!"

"Edward Elric?"

"Yeah! Right now!"

"Whatever for?"

"Please, Uncle Armstrong, it's important!"

"But it's almost night time... and where are your parents?"

"That doesn't matter," Roy snapped, "I need to see Fullmetal! Or Alphonse! Anyone!"

Armstrong caught the urgency in Roy's voice and nodded, picking him up and settling him in one shoulder before locking the door to the house and stepping out. "They should be at headquarters right now... time to use the Armstrong Short Distance Running Technique passed down from generation to generation of the Armstrong family!"

Roy sighed from Armstrong's shoulder and they dashed off to HQ.

* * *

Roy threw open the doors to Central HQ as best he could and stood in the doorway, fists on his hips, hands gloved, ready for resistance. "I need to see the Fullmetal Alchemist!" he cried, his eyes sweeping about, looking for someone to put up a fight. "Who do you think you are, kid?" one of the soldiers called, and Roy's eyes did a double take around the room, and his chin raised. 

"I'm Roy Mustang, son of the Flame Alchemist!"

"Aaah... another Mustang. You certainly look like one," a man said from the doorway of his office. He was tall and well built, with long brown hair streaked with blondethat hung over his face and piercing green eyes. A red headband with metal plates near the temples was tied on his forehead, and on his face was a half-grin; in his eyes Roy could see a kind of unspeakable sorrow, something that made him shiver in his little shoes. His voice made Roy reassess the person's age; he was no more than a boy, really, about Nii-San's age.

"You want to see the Metal Midget? C'mon then."

Another soldier stood up. "Major Ross, you can't be taking this kid-"

"Are you questioning my judgement?"

"I-... no Sir."

"Good. Let's go, kid."

Roy ran beside the boy and looked up at him. "How old are you?" he asked, and the boy looked at him again.

"Me? Fourteen. Why?"

A fourteen year old alchemist... then that meant he could enter at a young age as well! That was good. "Aw, no reason. Is Nii- I mean, is Edward Elric here?"

"He sure is. Just came in this morning in fact; he came to visit Major Armstrong and do some investigation or the other, and well," the Major shrugged, "He ended up spending the night. So am I. I just came in to turn in my investigative reports and my annual reports."

"So you're an alchemist?"

"Yep, the Firestorm Alchemist."

"Wow, how did your Mommy and Daddy let you get in so early?"

The Major was silent for a few moments, his eyes trained on the drab hallway floor, but then he spoke, "I don't have any parents."

"Oh... sorry..."

"Nah, you're fine. Here's FM's room. Yo, Fullmetal!" He knocked hard on the door and a muffled snore came through. The Major pushed open the door and Ed bolted up out of the bed, still looking sleepy, and Alphonse looked up from his spot on the floor.

"Oh, hi Locke. Shouldn't you be asleep by now?" Alphonse asked as Ed rubbed his eyes drowsily.

Locke gave him a grin and tapped his head. "Nah, I don't sleep too much anymore... I'll get around to it though, Al, don't you worry. Promise. Anyway, Ed, you've got a little visitor here."

Ed blinked a few more times, then looked at Roy. "Oh, the Mini-Colonel." Roy sniggered.

"I'm not as mini as you, Nii-San." A vein bulged in Ed's temple and he snapped awake.

"I'M NOT MIN-"

"Anyways," Roy cut in, "I need your help. Do you know where Gramma is?"

"Eh? I dunno... Locke, you know where Major General Durandal is?"

"I sure do; she's currently in Dublith for investigative purposes. Apparently, there have been sighting of people that match your description Ed, it could be a breakthrough on that stone of yours. You've sure gota luck run going."

"Yea... soon we'll have our bodies back. But what do you need the Major General for, Mustang?"

"I just... My dad got hurt, he needs to be healed, right now!"

"Hurt...?"

"He got shot! So I need Gramma to heal him! Where's Dublith?"

Locke piped in again, "It's a town a bit south of East, I'm pretty sure. I can take you there, if you want. Fullmetal and I were heading out that way anyway. By train, right Ed?"

"Yep. Al and I need to see our teacher anyway, but we're not heading out till-"

"Well," Locke said quickly, "I guess we'll have a change of plans. We'll head out tomorrow."

Tomorrow? Tomorrow wasn't fast enough!

"Look, kid, if your dad's been shot, he'll just have to wait. If he can hold on for a bit longer, we'll have him good as new in no time. By God he's picked an inconveniant time to get himself shot, with the Major General gone and all. Usually she's always doing desk work."

Ed fell back onto his bed. "Yeah well, that's just his karma comin' back around isn't it?" Alphonse looked surprised.

"Ed! That's not very nice... the Colonel has done lot of things for us, we owe him a lot."

Ed could just imagine Mustang's gloating face, and he shivered. "Okay okay, we'll help... but he can't be hurt _that _bad, kids always exaggerate."

"Nu-uh! He's hurt really bad!"

"Suuuure. Just pick a spot and go to sleep, Mini-Mustang. We'll head out in the morning."

Roy picked a spot and huddled up, his knees drawn up to his chest, his chin resting on his knees. He hoped he could find his grandmother fast enough to heal his daddy.


	32. the pathetic writer's block chapter

**HEIR TO THE FLAME**

**CHAPTER 32:**

Roy bounced up and down in his seat next to Locke, looking at him, then Ed, then Al, impatiently. "When are we going to get there, Edo?" he asked. "We need to hurry up and get there to Dub-thingie."

"Dublith," Ed corrected, "And keep your pants on, the train's going to take a while."

"But I can't take a while," Roy wailed. "Daddy's hurt and he needs Gramma!" Al tried to reassure him as best he could.

"It's okay, we'll be there in a little bit, it won't take that long at all!"

"But Aru! Edo just said it would take a long tiiiiiiiiiiiime..."

"I'm sure it won't take as long as Edo said."

"Aw, okay..."

"At any rate, we can't change the speed of the train so we might as well be patient, right?" Locke said, leaning back in his seat and lowering his chin onto his chest. "Might as well get some shut eye."

"But... rrrgh. Okay..." Roy crossed his arms over his chest and pouted and the train rattled on south to Dublith.

* * *

Once at Dublith... 

"GAH! Where could Gramma BE? This place is too big! Grrrr... Edo... where should we start?" Ed shrugged and gestured to the houses.

"No idea, but we could ask... Teacher." Al gulped and shivered and Locke looked at the two of them like they were crazy. He cleared his throat and raised a nervous hand.

"Uhhh... guys... could we possibly hold that off as long as humanly possible...?" The Elric brothers nodded as one and scurried off as far away from the cluster of houses as they could. Roy gritted his teeth again and ground them together, irritated.

"What are you so scared of? This is stupid, we should be looking for Gramma!"

Ed sighed. "Correction, squirt, you're looking for your gramma. But I guess... we have to see Teacher anyway." Roy frowned and muttered under his breath, shooting nasty looks at Ed.

* * *

Meanwhile at Jean's house... 

"I'm here! Now where is everyone? Hellooooo?" Ilia called through the doorway. "Anyone here? Hello?" Riza dragged herself from Roy's bedside and to the door, but when she saw who it was, she fairly flew to it, seized her mother-in-law's arm, and dragged her to the bedside. Ilia shrieked and Roy groaned, his eyes squeezed tightly shut. He was in pain, and now he had to deal with the pain in his ears.

* * *

Ugh, an alltogether pathetic chapter, I know. My creative spring seems to have dried up since about a week before End of Course testing, and man that testing really killed me. Let's see... the Royai spring is pretty much dead, but I'll revive it with some work. What a pathetic chapter... but I'm really feeling uncreative now.

In related news, I am currently starting the very first Anime/Manga club to ever grace the halls of my high school, which is a big achievement, and a close group of friends and I are currently in the plotting stages of a manga. So far, we're calling ourselves Double Helix, so if we actually get published, well... good for us. I'm drawing... all of it. Well, everything minus background and dragon, and I'm coming up with the plot line as well, which may be where all my remaining creativity is going to. Oie.

I'm dog-tired, phew. I'll have to get it together, and rest assured I will and very soon. I think I'm actually going to wrap up this story much sooner than I intended originally, but that may change, so...

Other related news. I've got a new...er... fic up that mainly on Roy, it's fantasy/action/adventure, which is my home field, so check it out if you feel like it. It's called Lost Legacy. And for any Naruto fans that exist in my reviewers, I've got a KakashiXOC fic up that's romance/humor up called The White Fang. So see that if you want to.

I'll try harder with the next chapter, and hopefully it will be back up to its standard 2000+ words.

Till next time

-T A


	33. Give or Take?

**HEIR TO THE FLAME**

**CHAPTER 33: 'Give or Take'?**

"Awww... crutches suck. I hate crutches! Do I have to-"

"YES. YOU HAVE TO USE THEM."

"Okay okay... geez... I'll use the stupid crutches... you people act like I'm so delicate..."

"YOU'LL BE DELICATE IF YOU DON'T USE THOSE DAMN CRUTCHES, ROY GLENN MUSTANG!"

"Yes Mom..." Roy gritted his teeth and put the crutches under his arms, heaving himself upward with them as support. He hadn't even been healed yet and they were already forcing him to stand! What was wrong with these people? He looked quickly at his mother and decided to squash the question. He didn't like that look; it was as if she could read his mind... He... crutched... around the room a few times and pouted at his mother. "Happy now?"

"No. Sit down." Roy grumbled under his breath and let himself flop down into a chair. First she wanted him to get up and... crutch... around, and now she wanted him to sit down! He could almost swear she was becoming menopau- "And wipe that nasty look off your face. I can almost see the insults formulating in your mind."

He resisted snapping back and tried not to look down at his chest. It wasn't looking too good even though his mother had healed most of it. He turned his head to Riza. "Where's Junior?"

"Armstrong called and said that he was heading to HQ and he was looking for Edward."

"Dear God. What on earth is he thinking!"

"He probably went to look for your mother, and, well..." she gestured at Ilia.

"So we have to find him now. Perfect. I'll just go and-" he winced as his chest flared upand Rizapushed him back down.

"You are not doing one single thing until that heals over completely. I'll go look for him."

* * *

_And now, dear readers, let us press the fast forward cubed button to jump from what will be a particularly violent interaction between, mother, wife, and man. Oh the agony._

_Better._

_Now we seem to be located in a giant puddle of bloo- oops, we need to fast forward some more._

_Alrighty. Here we are. Roy has somehow managed to haul his stupid self out of bed and crawled out the window in the middle of the night without anyone knowing, including Riza. Such a slippery little devil._

_

* * *

_

Roy trudged along the road, teeth clenched, head bleeding, still picking out pieces of splintered frying pan from his head.

"Stupid... mother... grr... ow!" he crutched a little further and decided that it would be a wonderful time to take a break, such a wonderful moment to just catch a breath or two... ohhh... he might as well go to work. He crutched a little farther before realizing the great irony in his words: he, Roy Mustang, the great procrastinator, was about to go to _work _banged up like there was no tomorrow with bits of frying pan still stuck in his sore head, his chest area bandaged using about three to six roles (give or take) of bandages, on crutches, his armpits sore from previously mentioned crutches, and a red mark glistening rather decoratively on his cheek in the shape of a hand.

He was going to work looking like he'd gotten trashed by a whole herd of women, oh he'd never live the humiliation down, ever. Then again, he _had _been beaten up by a whole herd of women. Riza counted as about thirteen, while his mother counted as about three hundred and one, give another fifty or so and take about negative five. He was even beginning to think of strange analogies using the phrase 'give or take' with his mind! He crutched faster.

He'd better get to H.Q. before he lost his mind completely.

Still crutching and crutching and crutching and crutching... this was making his armpits hurt, ugh. But he had to get to H.Q, it was his best shot at figuring out where the heck Junior had gone. If something had happened to him... Riza would never forgive him, hell, he would never forgive himself. Hurry hurry hurry, dammit, crutch faster!

Stupid crutches. Finally he saw the building loom into view and he sped up as much as he could, hopping rather awkwardly towards the double doors, sighing with relief at the lighted windows, and hoping that the doors were unlocked. After he got Junior, he'd bring him back home and they might just catch the radio play-by-play for the finals of the Flameball State Championships. Today was SuperFlame Sunday after all. He was almost there, he could just feel the metal of the doorknob in his hand already, or feel the rawness of his throat when he had to scream for someone to open the do-

His thoughts were interrupted when his wooden crutch snapped in half, tumbling him into the middle of the street, a truck hurtling his way.

"Oh, DAMN."

* * *

Hmmm... possibly not the greatest way to leave Roy in the middle of the street on SuperFlame Sunday, but that'll leave you hanging until the next one. Once again, very short, but it's much better than that horrendous last chapter. Thanks for all the support T.T. Makes me wanna cry. Just kidding. 

This has alleviated my writer's block a little, and hopefully I'll be up to speed by next week or so.

As for the manga we're trying to make, we've now got the main party down, a lot of the plot, a few extras, a government set-up, two countries, three very insane antagonists, a really big dragon, a bunch of weird monsters, and a team title to go with it. We are now, Delusion Manga, courtesy of Andrews High School. I'm tellin' ya, if we ever get this thing published and make money, we're sending the money to the school; man is my school poor. Ah well. I'm getting knocked for a loop: I've got Honors Civics and Economics and Honors Chemistry to deal with, as well as drawing character, world, government, and scene sketches as much as I possibly can.

Not paying attention in Health helps, I'm sure, I mean, all we do in there is copy vocabulary words and sit around. There's not much, if anything, to pay attention to.

Well, see you guys next chapter,

-T A


	34. UHHH Plastic?

**HEIR TO THE FLAME**

**CHAPTER 33: UUUUH... Plastic?**

"Okay, you know what? I've had enough! I've gotten my bones snapped, I've been burned, punched, shot, sexually assaulted, stalked, and everything damn else, but this just about takes the cake!" Roy screamed, having a tantrum in the middle of the road. He knew it was very unbecoming of him, but what else could he do? He was about to be run over by an eighteen wheeler truck. He huffed and fumed as it drew ever closer and kids staying up late and garnering the streets stared in horror as the truck rolled forward, closer, closer, closer to the man lying rather haphazardly in the middle of the street.

The eighteen wheeler got closer and closer and closer and closer… And collided with his forehead; all two pounds ofplastic worth of eighteen wheeler. Roy fumed even more. Today was not a good day at all; when he got hold of Junior he didn't know what he would do to that son of his. He guessed it was his own fault anyway, but still! Who asked him to go running off into the middle of nowhere. God. He levered himself up on the splintered remains of his crutches. His chest was on fire yet again and he limped himself away across the remaining distance to Central Headquarters. He swore that if those doors weren't open he would have possibly the first hissy fit in his whole life. He shoved himself against the doors and was greeted by a very bewildered and sparkly Alex Louis Armstrong. " 'llo Major… Have you seen Junior anywhere?"

* * *

"Whaddaya mean Gramma already left? I came all the way out here for nothing! Daddy's gonna kill me! And Mommy'll shoot me and Gramma'll probably spank me or something and Daddy'll chase me around the house and try to set me on fire and Belcini and Buraha will try to eat me!" Locke raised his eyebrow. "Well… I guess our information doesn't travel nearly as fast as we thought it did. It's clearly not efficient enough…" he whipped out a notepad and started jotting something down in pencil, then flipped it closed. 

"I'll check in with Major Armstrong about it. But I really think we should be going, Miss Izumi… Thank you for tolerating us as long as you have…" Izumi waved it off and cast a withering glance at her two proteges. "You're welcome, Locke. Now, you… the little kid." Roy looked up miserably from the wooden puppy she had made for him to pass the time.

"Shouldn't you be getting home?"

"Yea… I guess so…" he slipped off the couch with the toy in his hands and Locke looked down at him.

"Should we head back to Central now?"

"I'm going to die…" Roy muttered under his breath, following Locke back to the train station. "A horrible terribly painful death." "What kind of people are your parents? They can't be that bad." "Well… Daddy's a crazy pyromaniac and Mommy's gun-obsessive. And they're both insane. Very insane." Locke sweat dropped and continued down the road. "Crazy and insane, eh…? Eeesh." He flashed his pocket watch to the man at the booth and he was handed two tickets for Central. They hotfooted it to the train and managed to grapple the guardrails and swing themselves up onto it before it left them on the tracks..

Junior was prepared for a wall of bullets, a wall of fire,even a wall of frying pans, but not what he got when arrived back home.

"ROY!" His mother had swooped out of nowhere and scooped him up, proceeding to cuddle him for another hour and a half until he whined that he didn't want to be cuddled anymore. She didn't pay any attention and cuddled him for another hour before she fell asleep on the couch with Junior locked in her cuddle-embrace of doom. That was when Roy stalked in through the front door with looks that could kill. He crossedhis arms over his chest and stood in front of him, wobbling dangerously unsteadily. He got out of this posture and opted to lean on something instead. "And where were you, Son?" he asked quietly. Junior gulped and snuggled down deeper against Riza.

"I was looking for Gramma..."

"And why?" Roy asked as a growling Black Hayate and a hissing Belcini stood on either side of him.

"I wanted her to help heal you..."

"Okay, whatever, I'm going to bed," Roy said, stretching his arms above his head and yawning. "I'm burned out... I need some sleep. You go to sleep too, Junior."

"I'll sleep here... Mommy won't let me go." Riza muttered something in her sleep and cuddled Junior even more than he thought possible. He suppressed a whine and snuggled down as well as Roy limped his way up the stairs just to be shooed to bed by Ilia. "Go on, go on, off to bed with you young man."

"Mom, I'm not a baby..."

"Go, shoo!" Roy resisted the urge to retort and went to bed quietly. Junior squirmed.

It was getting awfully hard to breathe in here.


End file.
